Percy Jackson: Guardian of the Apocalypse
by percy jackson of chaos
Summary: Annabeth dies, percy joins Chaos' army. He was betrayed by his closest friends, and his parents died. He becomes super-powerful, second only to Chaos. However, a force stronger than he has ever seen starts to rise. What will happen?
1. Chapter 1

Flashback

He looked at the box opening it in his hands, and looked at the ring. It glinted in the sun. He remembered the last time he had seen her, back when they had their fight. After that he hadn't seen her for a week. They were giving each other the silent treatment over some stupid fight. But one night, he had a dream. He saw the fates. It was a disturbing dream, and he saw the future. _His_ future. And in the end, he saw Annabeth dying, while he sobbed. Of course, that only represented that she would die, not how or when. But when he saw _that, his future self, crying over her limp body, the camp gathered around, he was reminded of something. Just how much he loved Annabeth. And that he couldn't let her die so easlly. He had already had the ring specially made, but then they had their petty little fight. He couldn't propose. But now he would._

He walked into the mess hall, and saw her sitting on the other side of the hall, chatting happily with Nico. He walked to her, and her smile slowly faded. She started to get up and walk away, and his heart started to hurt a little. She stormed away, but he simply ran after her. She was just outside her cabin when he finally grabbed her hand. She turned around, looking at him coldly. But all he did in response was push her against the wall and embrace her in a lustful and passionate kiss. He put his hands on her waist, and she grabbed his hair, pulling him towards him kissing him back. He nipped at her lower lip, and she gasped. He slowly roamed his hands up her body, eliciting light moans from her, until he reached her back. Wrapping her legs around his waist, they pulled together, almost merging into one. For a while, they made out, until he pulled away, both of them gasping for air. For a while they stood there, simply enjoying each others presence, while he easily supported her. Resting his head in the crook of her neck, he spoke.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, I'm so sorry. ", he whispered

"It's okay, seaweed brain, I was being stupid. No mater what, I love-", she was cut of by a shrill scream. They quickly seperated, and it seemed that he was mentally debating what to do.

"It came from the beach. Stay here, annabeth." Then he grabbed her shoulders and gave her one last kiss. Her expression looked shocked yet blissfull. Looking her in the eye he spoke once again.

"I love you, Annabeth. No matter what, I always will. Through thick or thin, you are the one perosn I care most about. You're my best friend, and the love of my life. I never want to lose you. And I won't let you get lost. I swear that, no matter what happens."

Tears welled up in her eyes, and all she could do was nod.

He ran down to the beach, racing and weaving through the trees, thoughts simultaneously raced through his mind. He hadn't even got to propose. He just hoped that he would get through this alive. He had to. He and annabeth were supposed to be the perfect couple. They were supposed to live and be together until they died.

At the beach, he got his first look at the monster. It was a creature of darkness. It roared and the black flames encircling its head rose up into the air. His breastplate was a blackish gold, and the monster's skin was black and slightly see through, like a black crystal. It had bronze claws, and was shrouded in a cloak that swooped down from its shoulders. Its crystal arms were laced with what looked like imperial gold. He remembered the monster vividly. After all, it had been the cause of his deepest griefs. he barely remembered the battle. He only remembered annabeth, and some others charging down to his aid, armed to the neck. The monster's claws ripping through annabeth's chest. him summoning a tsunami and earthquake so violent, more demigods were injured than the monster itself. but he didn't care. he only cared about one thing, annabeth. He hadn't thought about annabeth dying. he had always thought that he would die before her, involved in some stupid sacrifice. How had he let this happen? They had been through tartarus, battled the titan of time, defeated the earth mother, and in the end, some stupid monster was the one to kill her.

"percy..." she whispered.

"yes! annabeth? please.. don't die on me."

"It's okay, seaweed brain... just..dont do anything stupid, okay? live for me, if not for yourself"

"no...annabeth, don't even say that. your not going to die... I wont let you! Guys, what are you doing! Someone go get a medic, some nectar and ambrosia! GO!"

Some campers scampered off. He looked scary, his sea green eyes glowing with rage.

"Percy, no, just stop. you cant do anything more for me..."

"then..." he choked on his words.

"I'll meet you in elysium then.."

"of course, seaweed brain."

She smiled and so did he. he didn't know how he could, at a time like this, but he did. With one last breath, she suddenly went cold, her body limp. He took one last look at her and kissed her on the forehead, gently. As he smiled, a tear dropped from his eyes and he closed annabeth's eyelids.

"goodbye, annabeth".

His smile faded, as the tears he had been holding back rolled down his cheeks.. he would miss her. But he would definitely meet her again one day. that, he swore on the river styx.


	2. Chapter 2

**50,000 years later**

I walked through the huge black gates, and kneeled.

"Chaos."

"Percy, get up. How many times do I have to tell you to stop kneeling? You're basically my son. I swear you do this just to get on my nerves."

I grinned and stood up.

"You know me so well, my lord."

He sighed. He hated it when I was so respectful.

"Anyways, the reason I summoned you here, is because I have a new mission for you. You have to go to some planet that's impossible to pronounce. But I have the IGC's for you. There's some rebellion or something going on. You need to stop it. Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure."

"Of course. Cya."

"Bye, Percy."

I looked at my IGC's. They were intergalactic coordinates. I hit a few buttons on a pad outside my room, and the doors slid open. Briskly grabbing my cloak, I slid into it. Then I grabbed my sword and gloves. I shoved my feet into boots, and put my armor on. Well, it wasn't exactly armor, it was just a small black circle that I stuck on my chest on top of my purple t-shirt.

I tapped a few buttons on my gloves, and wind started to spin around me. Then I entered the IGC's, and my body was ripped apart. I reformed in a completely different place. I looked around me. There were a few humanoid creatures running toward me. I grinned and pulled out my sword. It was a black sword made out of the same metal as my armor. Slicing it upward throught the air, a wave of purple energy flew out of it, reaping destruction on the idiots that were still running. When it hit them, they flew backwards throught the air, disintegrating when they hit the ground. Then, turning around I saw a person in a weird golden hat, standing before me.

"I presume that you're the leader of this world?"

"Indeed."

He didn't actually speak in english, but my powers let me automatically translate and speak and language, while the whole time it sounded like english to me.

"I'm here to stop the rebellion. Are they inside?"

"Yes. I barely escaped. They've taken the palace. They've been in there for two days now. The peoplw you just destroyed were the guards."

I nodded. I snapped and a black void appeared behind him.

"I'm sending you to Chaos. He'll see what to do with you. After all I don't think these people are rebelling for no reason."

I roughly pushed him into the void, and walked past him, ignoring his shocked expression, as he dissapeared. I hated these kinds of leaders who were much to full of themselves, and thought that they never did anything wrong.

Slicing and stabbing through the guards, I silently took them out without them ever realizing, and opened the door to the throne room. I walked in and was greeted by some gluttonish looking brutes, drinking a red liquid. When I tapped the circle on my chest, and my purple armor extended out of it enveloping my whole body. The crystaline plates overlapped all over my body like an invincible body-suit. It was made out of chaotic metal. As the name suggested it was incredibly hard to forge. Many blacksmiths were killed trying to forge this. Finally chaos made it himself, seeing that he was probably the only one who could. I put my sword back in my sheath. This would be a piece of cake.

As the brutes rushed at me, I enveloped my fist in chaotic fire. It was a blackish purple fire and this was the only fire hot enough to melt chaotic metal, and it could wipe anyone from existence, if the owner wished. I grinned and punched the first in the stomach, and he collapsed. Then, turning around I elbowed one sneaking up, and using the momentum to shove one that was to my left on to the ground . I got up, and kicked one in his chest, sending him tumbling into another one. I sent a blast of fire at them both, and they blacked out. Pun totally intended, The last three came at me. I ran straight forward faster than you could comprehend, although it was more like I swept forward, kind of like a ghost, straight throught the middle one, and he collapsed. I touched the other two on the back and they fell down face first. I touched my chest, and my armor folded back in. Throwing my hood back, I walked out of the room with a grin.

Mission accomplished.


	3. Chapter 3

I outstretched my hand and gave Chaos the full report of my last succesfull mission. He took it and put it into some portal he just opened.

"Thanks, Percy."

"No problem."

I walked to the training grounds, where I saw the army standing at attention. I put up my hood, and stood in front of all of them. I projected my voice, and spoke.

"Today, I will have you practice team attack strategies. All of you, all 1 million, will attack me. After that, I will discuss strategies with you, and you will all practice them. clear?"

The sound of one million spear butts hitting the ground echoed throughout the room, and I knew they understood.

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN"

They all charged at me. One million of the strongest warriors in the universe, and all I did was smile. Then the back of the army stopped and pulled out their bows. They arranged themselves in a half circle, around the rest of the army, the most skilled archers in the back. The very front charged at me with swords, and the people behind put up shields. And the ones behind _them_ but in front of the archers, got their javelins ready. Just as the swordsmen came close, I raised my hand, and a wall of chaotic fire came up. They charged right into it. Then shot the archers. 300,000 arrows came at me, all of different assortments. I opened up a bunch of portals, putting the arrows out into the hole. The hole was the eternal and ultimate prison. But there weren't nearly enough portals. I stopped time for a second, and quickly analyzed where the rest of the arrows were. Burning the image in my mind, I resumed the clock. Pulling out my sword, I sliced through three that were next to each other. I dodged a few to my right, and swung my sword up, deflecting some more. I kept dodging and deflecting the arrows, until they seemed gone. Just then I turned around and swung both legs of the ground, bending my back backwards and set my hands firmly on the floor. I kicked the last arrow, out of it's original path, while doing a back flip of sorts, and slid back a few feet on my feet, my fingers trailing on the ground. I got up and turned around, just in time to notice a line of shields charging at me, the javelin throwers running behind them, throwing as they went. This time I raised my hand and a bolt of lightning struck my palm, being deflected, then shattering into a million more shards, striking the javelins; disintegrating them. Then ice crawled up my arms, and I held them both out in front of me, shards flying off of my arms, one sticking in each shield. The ice in the shields spread and shattered, destroying the shields along with them. They had no more weapons left. I summoned a recliner out of thin air, and collapsed into it, and said with a bored tone

"Anyone else?"

They all shook their heads, but then one person came out. She had on a white cloak, and golden armor.

"Of course there is, seaweed brain"

I grinned.

"You're on, wise girl."

With that, she charged at me. She pulled out two daggers out of the air, that were made of pure light, and slashed up right in front of me. I dodged to the right, while my light, smaller sword transformed into a broad, two-handed, heavy sword. With a little effort, I picked it up, and swung down right where I was standing. This time it was her turn to dodge. She bent back, and did a back flip, kicking off the sword for momentum. I changed my sword back into a small one which I tossed away into a portal. I pulled out a dagger out of the darkness, made purely out of shadows. I ran at her, but at the last moment, doing a spin move around her, I put my knife at her throat. Knowing I had won, I relaxed. And she took this moment to her advantage. She threw herself forward, and her neck went straight through my blade, dissolving it in the process. I cursed under my breath. It was pretty easy pulling objects out of a portal, or out of thin air, but when one crafted something out of shadows, it required a fair amount of concentration to keep it solid.

"Still the same I see. Always letting your guard down a bit to early." She challenged me mockingly.

"Oh, but did I?"

Just then she realized that somehow I was standing right next to her, although a second ago I was a hundred feet away. She turned around, her fist burning with a golden fire and she punched me, straight in my diaphragm. I staggered back, wheezing and gasping for air.

"Yeah, you did" She smirked, and I realized that I had to win this, or she would always hod this against me.

I grinned, and my right arm slowly froze. With the other, I pulled of my shirt, leaving just my cloak, and pants on. For a second, her eyes flitted down to my 8- pack, put she quickly regained her composure. My cloak turned into water, but still stayed in shape. My other hand was taken by chaotic fire. I walked toward her slowly, and threw some ice shards into the ground in a circle around us. I lit their tips with chaotic fire, and the gaps between shards were filled with water. I stopped controlling my cloak, and it fell, with a splash, around me.

"Shit just got real, Chase."

She smirked devilishly.

"Oh, did it? Sorry, it didn't really feel like it. Anyways, all in?"

I simply nodded

"You can choose one of your powers to use, and one weapon. We fight without cloaks, and no biting or scratching. We shan't use our wings, and thus they do not count as powers. Along with that, your weapon may not be able to transform into another, and it must be made of only chaotic metal. There shall be no protection, and only enough clothing to cover sensitive areas will be worn. The fight will have no set time, and the only way out will be a willing forfeit, or death. There shall be no forced defeat."

"Yeah, whatever."

A bright light ensue, surrounding us. The chaotic fire was extinguished, the ice melted, and the water collapsed. Both of our clothes were replaced with armored underwear, to say it simply.

I held out one hand, and there was a black spark. A small flame of chaotic fire sputtered weakly, slowly becoming a fuller flame. In my other hand, a broad, long, one-handed blade appeared, a black sword known as the chaos' blade. The legend behind this was that he had struck down his brother, known as Order, and taken the universe as his. Order was evil, and almost impossible to defeat. The blade that I held, was black, the bottom, circular, and a straight blade, coming out of the circle. It was around 4 feet long, and the grip was made of leather.

She looked at me, as if analyzing everything. She held out her hand, and unlike me, a column of bright white and gold fire rose. This was called entropy fire. It was similar to chaotic fire, and once again, similarly, it was the only fire able to melt entropy metal. While chaotic fire was actually freezing cold, it's temperature going lower than anything known to other planets, entropy fire was burning hot. Both could potentially destroy someone's very existence. Me and Annabeth were the only ones to wield the two fires. She stuck her other hand out and mused for a second. A white dagger, 2 feet long appeared. Only weapons of entropy or chaotic metal were allowed, though, when starting these fights, you were only supposed to say chaotic metal, since it was the more common one. Entropy metal was more rare, but chaotic metal was a tad bit stronger.

We both kneeled on one knee, bowing our heads down, placing our weapons in front of us. A circle glowed a hot red around us, and it slowly cooled to glow a bright purple. There was our border. When we got up, I caught her eye, and through a telepathic conversation that only came through years of knowing each other, I wished her good luck. She nodded back grimly. These battles were very serious, and happened rarely. Both of us got ready, and waited for the signal. There was a loud, indescribable sound, and we slowly stalked toward each other.

And once again, let the games begin

 **sorry guys, I know my chapters have been messed up. I don't now why. However I'm uploading from a different computer now, and it seems to be working. so yeah...**


	4. Chapter 4

I walked towards her warily for a bit, and then straightend up. I slid my blade into a sheath into my back. I summoned chaos fire, and shot it straight towards her. Annabeth dodged it easily, in return, charging at me with her dagger. She slashed it sideways, and I jumped. Straight over her, doing a flip, grabbing her head while I was at it. I landed on my feet, while pulling her with me, and she came over me, slaming into the ground. The watching army went completely silent. Yeah, that's right, I had the nerve to harm a girl. gasp. She pulled herself, and eyed me. Then she grinned. She looked at me, clenching her fists, and they were covered in entropy fire. She came at me faster than I could process, and punched me in the jaw. She kneed me in my stomach, and elbowed the side of my face. I staggered back, and she took a step forward, doing a spinning hook kick. Her foot made direct contact with the other side of my jaw, this time my left side. The second I turned, she did a jump front kick, her toes, pushing my face up, and I was thrown off my feet, into the air. Then she drew her arm back, punching me, knocking the wind out of my lungs, and this time, I went up into the air. When I started coming down, she took two sidesteps, and sidekicked me straight in the groin; I fell down, crashing into the ground. I somehow picked my head up, and saw my body, and bruises everywhere, and a few cuts. But what was more prominent, was the scorch marks. You could see where she had hit, I had become red, black, and purple. Then I saw her standing her above me, two seconds after I fell. She punched straight down, and I gained composure in time to roll to the side, and jump onto my feet. I was used to ignoring pain. One of my training excersises had been to fight a fire golem while getting whipped every 5 minutes. This was nothing compared to that. I saw her eyes widen, before she smashed a hole straight into the ground. She pulled it up, grimacing, and glancing at her bloody hand. Rookie mistake. You never punch straight down with that kind of force, since they can always sidestep or roll away. She looked at me, and took out her dagger, wincing for a second. Damn, now I felt bad. Either way, I ignored that too, and grabbed the hilt of my sword. The beautiful blade slid out silently, and I set the tip on the ground. This was going to be my final shot. The win would be mine, if I could do this correctly. It was a risky move, since I had never pulled it off before, but I had a good feeling this time. I grasped the hilt in my right hand, and picked it up, covering the bottom part with my left hand. Then I loosened my grip, and it slipped through my hands, until I grabbed it again. Now it was facing downwards. The tip touched the ground, and Annabeth charged forward. Closing my eyes, I felt everything dissapear, it was only me and the blade. I pushed the tip a little deeper into the ground, and it cut right through the stone, like a knife through butter. The handle grew warm, and I summoned chaotic fire all over my body. It traveled down, into my blade, and I opened my eyes. Everything was frozen. Annabeth was suspended, jumping over a stray shot of chaos fire. I was frozen as well, though. My blade glowed with purple energy, and then it exploded. The energy was released, throughout the room, as everything came back into motion. Annabeth landed running, her eyes widening, as the energy hit her, throwing her against the side of the ring, the whole army falling to their backs, and toppling over. A shockwave went through the floor, and I pulled my blade out. I went to Annabeth, and kneeled over her, and she smiled.

"New trick, huh?"

I smile, and kissed her gently, before I spoke.

"Yeah. I forfeit."

She simply smiled and nodded. Then my powers came back. I could feel the strength surge through me, and I placed my hand on her forehead. She healed completely, and I kissed the hand that had been hurt. I picked her up bridal style, and set her on her feet. Looking into her eyes. I knew just how much I had done the right thing. Getting her back. Suddenly, something came over me. I took her head, and kissed her. She parted her lips, and allowed me entry. I pulled her closer, and tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. My hands skirted under her shirt, which we had both recovered when the battle had ended, and held onto the hem of her shirt. She tangled her hands in my hair, and pulled me closer. I could taste her, and she tasted perfect, like cherries and cinnamon. Although that shouldn't have gone together, it did. I carressed her cheek with one hand, and then slowly pulled apart. I let our foreheads touch, and stayed there for a minute, breathing the same air as her, breathing her in, and looked into her eyes.

"I love you Annabeth. So goddamn much. Please, don't ever leave me again like you did so long ago. I want to spend eternity with you. When I stop being the general, I want to spend every day, every hour, every minute...every second with you. Always you. Only you. I value you more than my life, Annabeth."

Tears welled up in my eyes. I blinked them back, and saw the army standing there awkwardly. I sighed and spoke loudly.

"Start training in pairs, using only swords. Go."

Then I looked back at Annabeth. She looked shocked. I bet she wondered what that was about.

"I'm sorry Annabeth, I have to go."

This had to stop. I was destroying myself. All those... memories. They were killing me. I had to tell her eventually. But now wasn't the right time. I had to regain myself.

 **Heeeeelllooo. I know that not many people read this at all. Only a few. But anyway, there's another short chapter. I'll keep updating. Any feedback?**


	5. Chapter 5

I needed to tell Annabeth. After all, she was the love of my life. I didn't keep any secrets from her. Or, at least, I shouldn't be. But then why does it feel like this is something I can never tell her? Something that, I can never mention, never think of, because just the thoughts would be enough to compel me to do suicide. I walked up to a wall, and rested my hand on it. An intricate blue and white pattern glowed all over the curved corridor wall, and it started to split through the middle. It wasn't a clean split, it was choppy and blocky, but when I stepped inside, it closed, completely smooth again. I touched it with three fingers and it locked. Normally not just anyone could get in, but they could probably blow it down, or destroy it. Now though, they couldn't. My version of 'locked'. My eyes roamed through the room. My bed rested against one wall, and there was a desk on the other side. I needed it for my research. As a bit of a hobby, I kinda sorta made my own weaponry. My desk was pretty legit. It had devices that could help in destroying atoms, forming new elements, melting metals, all sorts of cool things. Across there was a window. It looked out onto the universe, but I could zoom in. I walked over to my bed and sat down. Resting my hands on my forehead, I clenched my eyes shut tight.

Flashback:

 _It had been a month since Annabeth died. I slumped over to my cabin, and pulled out the drawer in my nightstand. I pulled out a small blade. I had figured out through experience that this worked much better than my sword. I locked the door, and stripped. Then, I took the blade in a hand and slowly brought it across the left side of my torso. It sliced straight through my skin, and the cool metal felt refreshing almost. I could feel a warm liquid slide down my torso, and I sighed. It irritated a bit, but then I picked up another small blade and sliced another quick cut on another open spot, a bit higher than the first, on the right side of my torso. Once again, the blade slid coolly across my skin, the cold, relieving metal, being replace by a more warm, even comforting feeling. I lay down on my bed, the blood rolling off, landing on my sheets. I didn't care. They were already bloodstained anyways. I looked down. My abs had completely disappeared, and I was much more skinny. Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door._

 _"Who is it?"_

 _"Nico" The blunt reply came back. I sighed and picked up a dagger lying next to me. I closed an eye, held it in two fingers, and focused. I brought my hand forward, and the dagger slipped out of my hands, flying through the air, spinning, until it was rammed into the doorknob, slightly prying it off. But it was enough. Nico opened the door, and he walked right in, closing the door behind him, somehow locking it with some bones_

 _"Hey. You have anymore?"_

 _I simply nodded towards my drawer, and he walked toward it. I didn't care that I was naked, and he didn't either. He simply stripped also, and lay down on the bunk across from me. We had both outgrown any damn care in the world. We didn't judge each other, and, we didn't care that either was naked. He took up the blade, and smoothly sliced a good 2 inches. I raised my eyebrows._

 _"Anything especially worse happen today?"_

 _He nodded. "I met Thalia again."_

 _I sighed. Her and Nico had become a couple a year ago, and they had started to grow on each other hugely. They were as in love as me and Annabeth were. Well, he was. One day, he caught her. He found her, sleeping with Jason. They weren't even discreet, they were completely obvious. Nico raged. She had cheated on him...for her_ brother _. In fact, turns around she had been screwing around with other guys too._

 _Nico let out a sigh of pleasure. Not in a dirty way or anything, but he had been doing this longer than me. He had more experience. Then one day, I caught him. He told me what he was doing, and I decided to try it myself. Ever since, we had declined, in a horrible way, so that now we were both on the verge of death._

Flashback end.

I let tears escape, and I stood up. I walked up to my mirror, and pulled up my shirt. My other scars had faded, but not this one. Hand-carved there, by yours truly, was a word. It was faint, and the handwriting was crude, but I could make the word out. Worthless. Because that's what I thought I was. Worthless. Completely, despicably, worthless. I let out some more tears, and made my way back to my bed. My past was complicated. And horrible. There was much more than meets the eye. And I hated it. I hated _them_. For what they had done to me. I sobbed on my bed for who knows how long, until I finally fell asleep, crying.

I woke up to a knocking. Wait, what? I doubt anyone would intentionally be knocking on some part of the corridor. Only Chaos knew where my room was, not even Annabeth knew. I told her that it was like my place of sanctity, and that something bad had happened to me before. She didn't push it, although I could tell she was annoyed. I should trust her enough to be able to tell her. But I just didn't want her pity, or sympathy. That always happened when I told anyone my back story, even without details. The knocking ensued. Oh crap! I had totally forgotten about that! I quickly stumbled to the door, and touched my hand on it. It opened, and there stood Chaos himself, looking relieved. He must have thought that I was doing something bad, reverting back to my old ways. Only he knew my past, he had been watching me for a while, before I joined his army.

"Thank god, Percy, I thought that you were...never mind, I have something to show you, just umm...get ready."

I looked down at my half-naked body, somehow, sometime, I had thrown my shirt off, and no doubt my eyes were bloodshot, maybe puffy, and I probably had bags under them as well. Plus, my hair was probably a mess as well. I sighed and walked into my bathroom, turning on my shower. I didn't bother making it warm, I stood under the cold water, washing the grime off of me, and quickly put some shampoo in my hair. After, washing my face, I wrapped a towel around myself, drying off, then throwing a pair of sweats, and a tight muscle t-shirt on. I walked to the door, sliding into my custom made flip-flops, which had 'percy' on one, and 'jackson' on the other. In the background there was the universe. I loved them. Any-who, I followed Chaos, until we reached the security room. He touched th knob with a finger, and the door opened. He led me past all the robots controlling views of different sections of the universe, and to the back of a room. There, on a wide screen, was Earth. Except, for that it was rumbling, and after a bit of zooming in, you could see mountains forming, buildings collapsing, tidal waves crashing, and people running around. There was a white light that surrounded the planet, which I quickly identified as a force field. Chaos looked at me, worry in his eyes, a troubled look upon his face.

"Percy, this is an image of what the earth will be like a month from now. Right now, the forces that are doing what you saw, are still grouping. It is the titans, Gaea, the giants, but that wouldn't be too much of a problem. But, you see, it's not just Gaea."

"Yeah, no crap. There's the titans and giants as well."

He shook his head.

"Not what I meant, Percy. There are others...like gaea. Other of my children."

Realization dawned on me, as I widened my eyes.

"You mean...other primordials. Like Tartarus, Nyx, Erebus."

He simply nodded his head grimly. I cursed under my breath.

"You have to stop them Percy. You and Annabeth are the strongest people in the universe, aside from me. You will have my army at your command, but that is not what I am worried about. I'm worried about you, Percy."

I nodded, knowing full well what he meant. I would have to return to Earth.


	6. Chapter 6

I walked back to my room, and once inside, went to the wall behind my bed. I placed my hand on it and pushed. It went back a foot, and I squeezed through the gap. Once through, I briskly walked across the room, and pulled out a trunk. I opened it, and looked inside. I should explain. I was in my armory. There were all sorts of weapons around me, all though the greatest were in here. I picked up to twin scythes. The handles on both were around the length of my forearm. The blade was purple and black, made of chaotic metal, and the streaks of purple and black formed an intricate pattern. The handles were made of wood, however it was laced with magic, so that the wood wouldn't break, and part was covered in leather. I walked across the room, and strapped on my belt. It had 7 pockets in total, in the middle there being my sign. Near both sides of my hips there were to slots. I paced around the room, gathering more things. I slid off my normal shirt, and put on my armored shirt. It was like armor in disguise. Then I put the armor circle on my chest, which also beared my sign. Tapping it, it expanded, stopping a few inches behind my wrist and a foot behind my ankles. I slipped on my gloves, and my boots, both were made of a comfortable leather laced with chaotic metal. My gloves had a little hole on my palm, and they had spikes which went up my arm, basically like Batman's except mine were way cooler. Remembering Batman, and watching it with Annabeth put a smile on my face. Then I remembered what was to come, and I wiped it away. Then I bent down and picked up the scythes, clicking them into their slots on my belt. I slide my blade, The Reaper onto my back. Then, I walked back out of my armory, making sure I closed it. I went to Annabeth's room next.

I knocked on her door, and was about to speak, when she opened it and nodded.

"Chaos told me."

I simply nodded my head in response, and noticed that she was ready. We both walked out, and to Chaos.

"The greatest of luck, my friends. You will definitely need it."  
He took us to the teleportation room, which we used for long distance, and he opened up a blazing gold and blue portal. Huh, the color was different this time. I took Annabeth's face in my hands and kissed her. Then, we both jumped into the portal.

I hurtled through the air, before I landed outside of the Empire State Building next to Annabeth. While she landed gracefully on her feet, I sat there, groaning and rubbing my back. We both walked inside, and saw the security guard sitting at the counter. I walked up to him, and tapped his desk. He looked up, and his eyes widened. He fumbled for the keys, then gave us a card that was on his keychain. Annabeth and I walked into the elevator, and waited patiently until the elevator opened to Olympus. I walked to the streets, and the citizens threw us weird glances. I waited outside the doors to the council and grinned. Time to make an entrance. I raised a hand, and fog spread throughout Olympus. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at me, and I winked. She simply rolled her eyes to that. I put an invisibllity spell on us, and slowly pushed the doors open. They creaked open, and I could hear the gods breathing notcicably. I stifled a laugh, and undid the invisbility spell when me and Annabeth were in the middle of the room. The Gods yelped, or at least, some of them did. I put out a palm, summoning chaotic fire, willing Annabeth to do the same. She got the message. I let the flame go out of control, unleashing it in a column, and Annabeth did the same next to me. The fire slowly took over the room, flames dancing and Gods staring, completely entranced. The Fog dissapeared, and I snapped my fingers, The flames dissapeared. i heard Zeus muttering-

"And they think I'm dramatic"

I looked at him and he nodded my way.

"Who in Tartarus are you? Why are you here?"

I growled lowly.

"Shut it Zeus."

His eyes widened, and his nostril flared. I could practically hear Annabeth laughing next to me.

Zeus opened his hand, and his bolt appeared. The gods rushed forward to stop him, but he shoved them away.

"ENOUGH! I will not allow this. You just planned your own doom."

He launched his bolt at me, and i let it fly at me. Right before it hit me, I grabbed it in mid-air, and held it up. The electricty dissolved into the air, and I slid my sword out smoothly.

"You have the highesy authority here Zeus. I challenge you, not for your throne, simply your command."

The Gods all looked at me, but I stared forward straight at Zeus. I could tell that they all were in awe. First I destroyed his weapon, then i challenged their king.

"Fine then, you insolent fool."

I smirked

"Weapon of choice?"

"My master bolt."

"Any partners?"

He looked around him, before his eyes settled on Ares.

"Ares"

I laughed.

"perfect."

With that, I flashed us all out, into an area.

"The rules are simple. No killing, No biting, scratching, and no powers."

Zeus nodded, and I asked Ares for his weapon. He asked for a two-handed sword, no surprise there. Zeus thundered-

"LET THE GAMES BEGIN"

To be honest, I was getting tired of all these arena matches, and these 'let the games begin'. It started to get annoying after a while. As I thought, I saw Zeus stalking towards me. He swung his master bolt, which I had given back, I deflected it with my blade, The Reaper. It was a large blade, but it was still 1-handed. I swung ir around, quickly turning around, uppercutting so that the red blade about to slice me in half, was deflected, and thrown out of Are's hands. He ran after it, and I turned my attention back to Zeus. This time I went on the offense. I swung it horizontally, and he jumped back, I kept slicing back and forth, in all directions, never stopping the blade though. It started building momentum, and it became easier to wield. Finally, I had Zeus cornered at the wall, and as I gave my last downward strike, he held up his bolt in both hands, deflecting my hit. Except for it didn't deflect it, it barely saved him. My sword shattered the bolt, and an explosion ensued. I was thrown back, and when I fell, I saw Ares standing above me. He took up his blade and stabbed me through the heart. Blood spurted onto his face, and I got up. I pulled the blade out, wincing. Blood pooled on the floor, and I had an idea. I shoved Ares onto the ground, and took my sword. Then I stabbed him in the heel, and his eyes widened. He let out a blood-curdling scream. Likely, I was the only person to have done that before. Coincidence? Looking at Zeus, I saw him knocked out cold. I looked down to see a gallon of blood. My eyes widened, and i quickly stabbed myself again, so that the blood flow would stop a little. I snapped my fingers teleporting us to the throne room, Zeus slumped in his throne, Ares nursing his heel in his throne. Annabeth ran over to me, and pulled the sword out. She muttered some incantations, and a white light shot from her palm into me. I giggled.

"Stop! It tickles!"

She just rolled her eyes.

"You're an idiot"

I faced the council again.

"I defeated your king. Now I hold supreme authority. You have one month. In that month, you will all have to improve your skills thousand-fold. Primordials are teaming up, to destroy the gods. They want control once more. But that's not it. That's not the important part. What is, is that this is the Apocalypse."

Everyone looked at me, including Annabeth. I had kept this a secret, even from her.

"For that I shall call upon the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Not yet though. First we must go to camp."

I summoned a portal, and I stepped in along with Annabeth.

At camp, me and Annabeth fell through the air. I did have horrible aim. I saw the force field like boundaries coming closer, as we broke through, energy shattering like glass. We stood in a crater, and dust settled. Campers rushed forward, and the gods all flashed into existance in front of us. Except for Zeus, of course. One man rushed to the front of the horde of campers.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Hello, Drew."

He scowled at me.

"How do you know my name?"

I ignored his question, and looked through their ranks.

"Nico...and Leo. Come here."

Nico shuffled forward nervously, while Leo whooped, saying something about being on the better team. I gave him a chuckle, and he looked genuinely pleased.

"I am Apeiron. I am the guardian of the apocalypse, and commander of Chaos' army; second most powerful person in the universe."

Next to me, Annabeth introduced herself.

"I am Sofos. I am the companion of Apeiron, secondary commander of Chaos' army. I am third most powerful."

Just then Drew raised his voice.

"Bullshit. I'm the son of poseidon. I've been training my skills and powers for hundreds of years now, and I am the strongest, probably second only to Chaos."

I sighed. I was done with death matches. I decided to continue quickly after ignoring him.

"You are faced with the apocalypse. And I have come to save you from it."

I raised my hands in the air, and the sky turned night. There was no moon. The shadows elongated through the air, coiling around the campers' feet. The trees all turned brown, and anything food bearing died. A presence spread throughout the air, and the campers suddenly turned agitated, as they pushed and shoved each other. A smell manifested, of rotting bodies, and disease-stricken corpses. Mist spread at the campers' feet, and four people appeared. The one in the middle rode a green horse, not a bright green, but the color of rotting food. He had on a dakr green cloak, carrying no weapon. His face was unvisible, like the rest. Next to him, there was a man, in a blood-red cloak. He rode on a red horse, that burned with fire. He had a huge sword strapped on, that was a dark silver. On the other side of the center man, there sat a man on a yellow-ish horse, that was dirty, and disease stricken. He was covered in a parchment, he looked like a mummy. He donned no cloak, and he carried a whip. Behind them, you could see one more, in the shadows. This one who was behind them, sat upon a pale horse, that glowed with green fire, although you could barely see them. He had on a pitch black cloak, a huge scythe strapped on his back.

I faced them.

"Famine. War. Pestilence. Death."

They made no sound. The conditions turned back. A portal opened, and they stepped in. Death was last, but he spoke. His voice was raspy and ancient, carrying in it, a certain oncoming doom.

"We will see you."

The portal closed, and the campers stayed still. Then one spoke.

"Weirdo alert."

I turned around, outstretching my arm. A knife slipped from the clinks of my armor, shooting through the air, stopping less than an inch away from the kid's nose.

"You. Will. NOT. speak. bad. about. the. horsemen." I stressed every sylable, making sure he was clear. They were here to help them. They owed their lives to them. They just didn't know how strong the horsemen were. Then I stormed away.

Annabeth POV-

I had no idea what had just happened. He didn't tell me too much about his past, although I wish he did. I saw the campers giving us stares and the kid that had spoken up. The knife still floated in front of his face. I sighed and snapped my fingers. The knife fell, and everyone yelped stepping away from it. This wasn't like Russian Roulette. I flicked my finger to one side, and the knife dissapeared. I decided to enlighten the confused looking campers, and Gods.

"Those were the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Legend has it that when the apocalypse is upon us, they will come to our rescue."

I gave them a glare.

"They are _immensely_ powerful. They could take all of you out before you could scream, including the Gods."

I gave them my extra scary, killer stare, until I realized they couldn't see my face. Oops. I blushed, but luckily, they couldn't see my face. I groaned. This was gonna be torture without Percy.

"Okay. Anyone skilled at archery stand to the left. Sword-fighters to the right. Heavy weapons, behind me. Light weapons, at the very back, behind everyone."

The apollo cabin, and a few others went left, while the Ares cabin, and Athena cabin went right. The heavy weapons were predominantly Hephaestus, and some aphrodite kids, and minor gods kids went to the back. So did some Athena kids.

"Okay, archery, to the woods. Light weapons, to the beach. Heavy weapons, stay here. Sword-fighters to the arena."

Everyone dispersed, and I sent a mental message to Percy, telling him to come back. I also messaged some friends. Then I saw Leo and Nico just standing there. I cursed. Percy had called them up, but never told them why. I took them, and dragged them to the cabins. Everywhere else was occupied. I dragged them behind one, and they didn't complain. I took a deep breath, and took off my hood.

Leo and Nico's eyes widened.

"Annabeth."

"You're supposed to be dead."

I looked at them.

"Apeiron trusts you. You two, I think he believes, have control over your powers. You will teach, or help the campers strengthen, and contrl their powers. Leo, you'll be my assistant, and Nico you'll be Apeiron's."

They looked doubtful. I let out a breath, internally, and spoke

"What is it?" Nico spoke first.

"Umm... If you're Annabeth...well, is Apeiron...P-percy?"

I looked at him. This was Percy's secret to tell. Firmly shaking my head no, I confidently said.

"No. Percy's gone."

They both became gloomy so fast, it was kind of funny. I put up my hood, and said.

"Come on Death Breath, Fire boy, we have some training to do."

Percy POV-

Annabeth was smart. I had heard what had just happened. I mentally thanked her.

" _no problem._ "

It startled me, before I realized she probably heard that. Then, I realized where I was. In front of Cabin three. I walked towards the door, and it creaked open. There I saw one kid. Lying on his bed, bags under his eyes, looking with a dead look at the ceiling. In his hands, he carressed something. Riptide. His eyes were puffy, and his pillows had tear stains. He had scars all down his arms, and I knew exactly what they were from. His clothes actually had dust settled on them, and there were blades on the floor, along with bottles of beer. However they had dust settled on them as well. But I knew him. His once handsome face, the raven black hair, and the warm brown eyes.

"What do you want, Drew? You haven't been here in years. Shouldn't you be off sleeping with your step-sister? Or some other skank that you decided to seduce?"

His voice came out fragile, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time. It had a cold, harsh tone, full of hatred. I felt sorry for my brother.

"Barr."

He stiffened. His voice came out in a whisper.

"Don't call me that. Only Percy called me that."

I closed the door, and a symbol glowed. My symbol. Then I took of my cloak. I willed some water to burst out of the restroom, not drenching him. He probably didn't want to get wet. He only sighed.

"Get up."

He shook his head.

"No. I'm fine."

Tears rolled down my eyes, and I sat on the bunk across him. Then I whispered.

"I'm sorry, Barry. For everything. For leaving you. With that jerk, Drew. For not being there the last 50,000 years. For not telling you. For not being a better brother."

It seemed like he only heard the last part.

"Percy was a better brother." I bit my lower lip.

"Barr. Barr, I'm back."

He looked at me hopefully. His eyes widened in delight, and he slowly got up. Tears escaped his eyes, though it seemed like there weren't any left. He shut his eyes, and came to his feet, only to fall. I rushed over, catching him before he hit the ground. I dragged him into the restroom, and stripped him to his underwear. Turning on the shower, I placed him in the tub. He hugged his knees, looking up innocently, hopefully, the way he was when I met him. I nodded, and said.

"Don't block it. Allow it to touch your skin. To cleanse you."

He shivered, as the water cascaded down his body. I walked out, sitting on a bed. I looked around, and decided to clean the place up. I raised my hands in the air, and everything hovered up. The objects flew around, being put in their right places. I dispersed the blades into The Hole. The dust dissapeared, and water burst out of the fountain again. I opened the blinds, but made sure they were one-way, so no could see inside. Then I saw Barry walk out. He had become frail, and walking seemed to take effort. I slid into my cloak, and beckoned to him.

"Come on."

We walked out, him with his towel wrapped around his waist, until I realized this might be embarrasing for him. I quickly shrouded him in shadows, and walked to an empty space at the end of the cabins. I clenched my fists, and shut my eyes. I could feel the ground trembling, as a cabin was raised. It was black, with silver swirls. I could feel his eyes on me, as we walked inside. Unlike the outside, the inside was brightly lit, and humongous. There was a buffet table to one side, and beds to the other. At the back there were two doors. One that led to the rest of the place, and one that led to a bathroom. I pointed to the table and looked at Barry.

"Eat."

He walked over hesitantly, and picked up a strawberry. He looked at me, as if for confirmation. I nodded, and he sunk his teeth into it. After he polished it off, and started to come back, I shook my head.

"Eat some more, Barry. You need it."

A smile played on his face, and he looked at the ground.

"Can I have some clothes first?"

"Oh...umm, yeah sure." I replied sheepishly. I made a purple shirt and black jeans appear, along with a navy cloak. He slipped into the cloth, and I handed him a belt. He needed it. Then he looked at the cloak, confused.

"You're my apprentice, at lack for a better word. But don't worry, I'll train you. It'll be hard at first, but then you'll become as awesome as me."

He shrugged it over his shoulders, and I handed him a dagger. Shoving him towards the food, I walked out again.

Outside, I pulled out my sword.

' _Where are you, Annabeth?'_

' _I'm with light weapons. Can you take heavy?'_

I nodded. She would feel it. At the kids with heavy weapons, I took out my sword, racing through their ranks, disarming them. They all looked shocked.

"You guys use heavy weapons. This includes things like clubs, Axes, Chains, and more. These weapons give you momentum, not speed. See how fast I disarmed all of you? That was sad. You need to be faster. So pick up your weapons and form a circle. We're going to sparr."

They all clinked and clanked around, finally forming a deformed circle. Oh well, this would have to do. I told two of them to come into the middle and sparr. They were unbelivably slow. All of them.

"Okay, guys, no offense, but that was horrible."

They all looked ashamed.

"But...what you guys need is more strength. So the drill we're going to do, is chopping the ground. I want you to hit the ground, with the pointy part, pulling it up fast, and doing it again. You need strong arm power. Imma go help some others, but I want you to keep doing this. I don't care if you mess around, because it's your lives on stake."

With that, I walked away, to the archers, ignoring the sounds of weapons slamming ground, and dirt flying.


	7. Chapter 7

_Flashback_

 _I woke up strecthing, the sun shining in my face. I squinted, looking at my alarm clock. 10:00 am. Breakfast was over. Oh well. I didn't eat too much these days anyways. I sighed, wondering whether I should get out of bed. It had been two weeks since Annabeth's death, and the scene was still fresh in my mind. But it was better not to linger on the memory. Whenever I did, I just became depressed all over again. I had barely started to get better, and today might be a day to make some progress. Turns out, I was never more wrong. I got up, and walked to the shower. I cleaned myself off, but seeing as I hadn't seen the sun in two days, there wasn't to much grime on me. It still felt fresh to finally feel the water though. After showering, I walked outside, ignoring the pitiful glances of campers. Instead I decided to visit my parents. I hadn't seen or talked to my mother since Annabeth...passed away. I jogged to the big house, finally stretching my muscles in some time. I rapped sharply on the door, and a surprised Chiron opened the door. he motioned for me to come in, and I took a step in, barely giving a thought to the surroundings I would soon disown. I faced Chiron, who looked nervous, as if I was mad._

 _"Chiron, I want to visit Paul and my mom today."_

 _"Oh-oh yes, of course, lad. How long will you be staying?"_

 _"Just the day."_

 _"Well,seeing as its almost noon already, you better be on your way."_

 _"Thanks, Chiron!"_

 _I walked out, breaking into a run, as I hit the grass. I quickly grabbed riptide from my cabin, and strapped on my watch, which Tyson had since made anew in his free time. However, this time it depicted the battle for olympus, and the Giant War. I pulled a sweatshirt over my muscle tee, and quickly stepped outside. I whistled sharply, and the shadows in front of me twisted and writhed to reveal a hellhound. Mrs. O'Leary. I hopped on her back, and she dissapeared into the shadows, reappearing in front of my apartment in Manhattan. Before Mrs. O'Leary could cause any trouble with the neighbors, I gave her a few pieces of special hellhound food that the Stolls had come up with, and shooed her away. I knocked on the door, and it was opened by a worrisome Paul._

 _"Percy! Thank Gods you're here!"_

 _I walked in, to see my mom, sitting on the couch, staring forward listlessly._

 _"Ever since...your girlfriend died, and we had no idea what happened to you, she's been like this. Waiting for you."_

 _I nodded, and went to sit next to her. She didn't seem to realize I was there, so I put an arm around her. She looked at me, and her eyes lit up._

 _"Oh, Percy! Are you okay?"_

 _"Yeah I'm...better now, mom."_

 _She looked at me with worry in her eyes, and gave me a bear hug. I hugged her back, and she sighed contentedly. She suddenly got up, and smiled._

 _"How long are you staying?"_

 _I grinned. "The Day."_

 _She wenrt into the kitchen, and returned with a plate of cookies. They were blue, except for this time, they had white chocolate._

 _"I decided to try something different" My mom replied sheepishly, to my surprised look._

 _I gave her another hug, shoving a cookie into my mouth. Paul came and sat next to me, and I pushed the plate to him. He reluctantly picked one up. Just then, I realized that i had shadow traveled, and let a hellound lick me before I came here. I yelped, dropping my half-eaten cookie, rushing to the bathroom, while my mom lauged._

 _"Really Percy, after your 12th cookie?"_

 _I turned the tap on, lathering soap in my hands. As I rinsed the soap off, I heard a blood-curdling scream. I froze, shivers going up my spine. I could tell who's voice that was any day. I raced down the hallway, only to enter my living-room, to see the most gruesome sight I had ever seen. My mom...she, she was everywhere. I saw her head, rolling under the coffe table, a hand here, a foot there. Blood splattered everywhere. Paul hung from the celing, blood flowing out of his eyes, a white foam oozing from his mouth. He had a black liquid dripping from cuts spread over his body, and in his hand, he clutched another hand. I knew that other ring. It was my mother's. I felt something drop on my shoulder, to look up and see it was blood. Suddenly my mom's head spoke._

 _"Beware, son of Poseidon. You are next"_

 _I fell to the floor, sobbing. I felt a tug in my gut, and the pipes exploded. Water flowed out of taps, as I felt an amount grief equal to nothing else. Tears cascaded down my cheeks, joining the streams of water flowing from the bathrooms. I finally let it all out. I had tried to stay strong after Annabeth's death, never dwelling on it. But now I couldn't. I had to let myself go, to cry my heart out. I kneeled down, putting my fingers in a puddle of blood, dragging it through, bringing it up to look at it. The thick blood slowly crawled down my finger, and I wiped it away on my wrist. Standing up, barely stopping my knees from buckling under me, I walked numbly to the door. I grasped the cold knob, leaving blood stains that would never leave. I walked outside, and the sun didn't seem so bright anymore. The leaves didn't look a red-brown anymore, they looked cracked and dry. I walked down the sidewalk, staring at the ground, hoping that it would open and swallow me up. Sadly, no such thing happened. Instead, I kept walking, until I got tired. I whistled softly, but Mrs. O'Leary still came. I climbed on, and we dissipated into shadows. When we got back to camp, I tumbled off my hellhound's back, hitting the ground like a sack of sand. I trudged to my cabin, collapsing onto my bunk. I slit my wrists with Riptide, allowing my blood to mingle with my mother's. As the pain soothed me I was taken by the darkness._

 _3 Weeks Later:_

 _I tossed and turned in my bed, sweating profusely, as my parents' death played over and over in my dreams. The blood everywhere, the fearful expression on my mother's head, the way, Paul's eyes stared into the distance with a dead emptiness, blood blinding them, it all kept recurring in my mind, until I finally forced myself awake. I looked at my window, and saw that it was still dark. Just then, I heard a cry for help. I couldn't let anyone else die, I had just been getting over my own parents' death. I grabbed riptide, racing outside, seeing as I hadn't changed out of my jeans . I saw a boy with blond hair, that he combed to either side of his head, the way a girl would. It reached his neck, and he was in tattered shorts, along with a nike pro combat shirt. He was bravely facing off the Minotaur with a meat cleaver made of steel. It wouldn't work, but apparently he didn't know that. I ran to his aid, riptide extending in my hands as I ran. I tackled the Minotaur and he fell to the ground under me. I raised my sword, but before I could I was pushed from the side. I saw Drew standing there, his eyes wide in fear, as the minotaur averted his gaze to glare at him._

"I-I, I w-wanted to k-kill him."

 _Drew stuttered to me, keeping contact with the Minotaur's eyes. I growled and shoved him to the ground, tossing him my sword._

"Stab him through the back when I give you the signal. I'll distract him."

 _I ran to the Minotaur, punching him in the face. He raised a stubby foot, kicking me, leaving me flying through the air._

"Now!"

 _As I slammed into a tree, groaning, I saw campers charging up the hill, just as Drew stabbed the Minotaur through the back. They all cheered, and no one seemed to notice me._

 _As I got up, I rubbed my head, groaning. I walked over to the crowd, where it seemed Drew was the center of attention. He flipped his hair, and caught my eye. He gave me a mischeveous smirk, and a shrug. I wonder what he was up to. Then I heard someone ask what had happened, and Drew looked at me. He chuckled._

 _"_ Oh, well, you see, I was climbing my way uphill, I was being chased. I finally got to the top, and was trying to fight off the monster with my cleaver. Then I saw a kid running up here. When he saw me he snarled and charged at me. I disarmed him with my _meat_ cleaver, and pushed him away. I had realized that steel wouldn't work and that his sword was something special, so I took it, and fought the minotaur. Finally he got up and started coming at me again. He tried to punch me, but he hit the minotaur instead. So then he got kicked like the bag of cotton that he obviously was, adn he hit a tree. I didn't need the distraction, but I used it anyway, since a true hero doesn't hold a grudge. I stabbed the MInotaur through the back and he died."

 _Everyone cheered and clapped. Then one person chimed in._

 _"_ Who was the kid?"

 _Without a thought, he pointed at me, and everyone looked at me, stunned. People started to whisper. I stayed quiet. I snapped my fingers, and riptide appeared back in my hands. I had learned to do that._

 _"_ I didn't do it! Believe me if you want. I'm done with this anyways."

 _Just as I walked away, people gasped. I turned around to see Drew standing there, a trident spinning above his head. My eyes became clouded, and I stormed away to the beach. I stood there, and raised my arms. Waves crashed onto the shore, and they were raised into the air. FInally, my dad made an appearance._

 _"_ What do you want Percy? I'm busy"

"Fuck you. Busy doing what, another slut? Did you even know that Sally died? That Annabeth did? That I'm having suicidal thoughts?"

 _His eyes widened, but before he could say anything, I continued._

"No, you know what? A true father would at least know that his past wife died, much less his son's girlfriend. Screw you! I disown you, you man-whore! You're not my father...you're a little shit."

 _I spat at him. His nostrils flared, and his eyes widened more. As I walked away, he yelled._

 _"_ You never were a true son of mine, Percy!"

 _I turned around and flipped him off. Then I walked off to my cabin._

 _I stood outside of cabin three, and walked briskly inside. I grabbed my things, exiting, except for this time, there were no tears. After all, why cry over something you hated? I walked to Nico's cabin, and knocked on his door impatiently. He opened it, blood flowing down his wrist. When he saw me, he quickly spoke._

 _"_ I never believed Drew. I know that you're innocent."

 _My expression sofetened._

 _"_ Thanks. Mind if I crash here for a few days?"

 _He sjook his head, letting me come inside. I walked in, leaving my things on a bunk, before I walked back outside. I went to the sword arena, to see Drew training with Chiron. I walked to the dummies, and chopped one's head off. Chiron looked at me and scoffed._

 _"_ What are you doing here? I doubt any amount of practice will make as good a swordsman as my new personal apprentice, Drew. In fact, why don't you go do something else, like that stupid thing you do to your wrists? No point in wasting dummies."

 _I glared at him, before walking out. I saw some guy making out with Thalia against a cabin, his hand under her shirt, her hand over his bulge. I shook my head in disgust, and walked away. I went to the beach, to see whether my powers still worked. They didn't. I shrugged. Instead, I walked back to Nico's cabin, to see him passed out from blood loss. I shook my head and lay down on the bunk across him, quickly falling into a dreamless sleep._

 _The next day, another kid showed up. He looked fine, and wore a red shirt, along with dark skinny jeans. The satyr that escorted the camper walked away, and I met the new camper. Then there was a trident above his head, although not to many people saw. I took him to his cabin, and after some polite small talk, he walked inside. This would be a long story..._

 _Barry turned out to be a really nice kid. I taught him a lot of sword fighting, and after seeing my skills, he refused to believe that Drew had defeated the Minotaur all by himself. He hadn't even been there when that had happened, but he still trusted me. Talk about trust issues. At this rate, if someone told him they were Chuck Norris, he would believe them. Nevertheless, it was a welcoming change to have someone believe me. Then, one day, Drew went too far. He waltzed up to me, with Thalia next to him, visibly groping her butt. She was officially the slut of the camp. She was worst than the Aphrodite Drew._

 _"Hey"_

 _I eyed him warily._

 _"Hi...what do you want?"_

 _He looked at me, chuckling._

 _"Nothing at all. It's just that you're standing in my way. I need to go to my cabin."_

 _I looked behind me, realizing I was in front of cabin 3. I moved aside, and right before he was going to go in, I taunted him._

 _"Why are you here, Drew? Shouldn't you be with one of your skanks, you man-whore?"_

 _He narrowed his eyes at me._

 _"I believe the appropriate term is player. And at least I can get the girls, you loser. I bet Annabeth must have been such a prostitute, seeing as she would actually get with the likes of you."_

 _I sighed. Then I punched him in the face. He stumbled back, clutching his nose, blood flowing down. Thalia bit her lower lip, scrunching her eyebrows, looking back and forth between me and Drew, finally grabbing my hand, and pulling me behind a cabin._

 _"Listen, Percy, I always liked you. And when you punched Drew, it confirmed my thoughts that I should be with you instead. And you know...Annabeth had told me that you were quite big..."_

 _She started stripping, and I got furious. Me and Annabeth had never even done...that. Now this slut-bag was trying to get with me because I was able to make her lover bleed. She stood in front of me, still pulling clothes off like crazy, and I started walking away. She must have thought I was leading her somewhere, because she followed. I didn't realize, and soon we were standing in the middle of camp, everyone staring at us. Thalia's eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. She quickly covered up her parts, and let tears flow._

 _"You rapist! First you forcefully stripped me, and now you're trying to humiliate me!"_

 _She ran away, crying, and instead of looking at her, everyone turned their hateful glances at me. Just then Chiron and Dionysus walked up to me._

 _"Out! We do NOT tolerate such inappropriate behavior, Perseus Jackson" Chiron screamed at me._

 _I grinded my teeth, before punching him in the face too. I quickly ran to mine, or Nico's cabin, stabbing riptide to it's hilt in the wall, and hiding my watch under a loose floorboard. Then, I changed into a fresh pair of clothes, and threw the rest into a tunnel straight to the underworld, since this was the Hades cabin. I ran out again, thanking anyone I had left TO thank, Nico wasn't in the cabin at the time. I saw Chiron dripping blood, and something white glinting on the ground. His tooth. I felt bad for hurting my old mentor, who had taught me so much, but then I remembered Drew, Thalia, what he said, my parents, Annabeth, and I grinned to myself. He deserved it. I ran out of camp, until I reached a tunnel, a highway going through. I was on top. I took a breath and jumped, falling through the air, as the last thing I saw was a Truck slamming into me._

 _That was the day I died._

 _I appeared in a room, where everything was white. I sat up on a bed, and saw a piece of pizza on a plate next to me. I gulped it down, instantly feeling better. As my eyesight cleared, I saw a man coming towards me. He had pitch black hair, and tan skin. He had on a black batman-style cape, but his hood was off. In his pupils, there were sparkling specks of white that contrasted with the rich black. He had a tall frame, and when his cape was swept behind him, you could see his toned muscles. He had on a sleeveless black robe, that extended all the way to the ground. He had a handsome face, you could say, and his expression was soft. He told me how he had saved me, and brought me here, and how I was to join his army. His voice was deep, yet not so much so that he sounded like Gaea. His talk entranced me, and I jumped to my senses when he finally asked ME a question, cuing me to talk._

 _"You can have a partner. You two will go on missions a lot together, although sometimes you will have to go alone. He will also be very powerful, but not nearly as much as you. You may have your choice, from past, present, or future."_

 _When I talked, my voice came put hoarse, and I shivered at the sound. Chaos nodded to a glass of water next to me, and I drank it before continuing._

 _"Annabeth."_  
 _He simply nodded, and a black vortex was opened, a body tumbling out. It was her body. Mist came through as well, a steamy, smokey, fog that absorbed itself into her skin, as she was rejuvenated with a jolt. She opened her eyes, looking at me. I nodded, and tears welled up in both of our eyes. We hugged, without exchanging words, and Chaos explained everything to her. Soon after that, he teleported us away to his palace, where there was an army, dorms for us, everything. After an initial tour, he left us. I took the opportunity to take Annabeth's face in my hands, and touch our foreheads together._

 _"I missed you."_

 _"So did I."_

 _And those were all the words that were needed. No 'I love you', no 'I'll never leave you again' , that was all implied. I simply kissed her, cradling her face in my hands, as we kissed passionately yet gently, with caution, but still with the spark of reunion. And it was the best kiss I ever had._


	8. Chapter 8

I walked to where Annabeth was, and watched as she taught kids how to shoot arrows. She looked over at me and nodded. I walked in front of all of them, and they quickly put their bows down. I cleared my throat and spoke.

"I'm gonna give you a little demonstration."

I pulled a bow out of the air. It was mine. It was silver and black, and it had a taut bowstring. I pulled a sheath of arrows out of the air as well, slinging them over my back. I pulled the first one out, double-checking to make sure that it was a fire arrow. I set it on the string, and pulled it back, completely aware of my muscles bulging. The bowstring slipped through my thumb with a crack, as the arrow flew away from the bow, hitting the target in the center. Behind it followed another arrow splitting the first one through the middle, hitting it hard enough to go through the target. After that I ran to the side, so that I was now horizontal to the target, instead of in front. Everything was on fire by now, and I shot an arrow high enough to skim the top of the flames, so that it caught on fire. It went through a few trees until it fell into the water, and the fire spread on the water; soon the whole lake looked majestic. The campers looked stunned as to how fire was spreading on water. I summoned a huge wave, and the fire was extinguished. I walked away, deciding to go to the swordsmen.

There were kids clanging swords. Poorly. For the next half hour I taught them how to hold them, and pick out a well-balanced one for them. Call me old-fashioned, but swordsmen were way better back in my day. Anyways, thats how the rest of my day was spent. Training a whole bunch of campers, and giving legit demonstrations.

I walked to my new cabin, and entered. My brother wasn't here, but he was probably somewhere in camp. I snapped my fingers, and the inside shrunk, so that it was just like a regular cabin, and mimicked my old one. I sat down on my bed, and sighed. I had to tell them. Who I really was. Or else, I would never gain their full and complete trust. Annabeth had told Nico and Leo who she really was, and soon I would have to do the same. But first, I had to tell Annabeth. What had happened to me. I got up, and pulled my cloak off. I put on a black muscle tee, and jeans. Over my t-shirt, I slipped on a navy hoodie, pulling the hood over. As I walked outside, I was hit by the cool night breeze. I didn't know where to find Annabeth, so I went to the Arena. Instead of Annabeth, I found a certain Clarisse. She was hacking away at a dummy, and I could see the frustration. She looked the same as all those years ago, however, a but more mature. Her muscles weren't as prominent, instead of being kind of bulky, she was much more lean now. She stabbed another dummy, and screamed in anger. She tossed her sword down, turning around to see me. And I got a good look at her face. She had tears rolling down her cheeks, and she wasn't sweaty at all. Seeing me, her eyes widened.

"Hey. Hey, you alright?"

I said softly. Instead of rejecting me, she went and sat in one of the seats looking down on the arena. She looked at me hopefully, and I sat next to her. We sat there for some time, since I really didn't know what to say. She spoke first.

"Can I tell you something?"

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Anything."

"I really miss Percy. I used to like him, but I hid it. I know he didn't feel the same about me, but still. Sometimes, I think, if I hadn't been such a bitch, could I have gotten to him before Annabeth? And thats all fine though, I had gotten used to my jealousy, but then...then we betrayed him. I thought the rumors were true, I..I don't know why I believed them. I got even more mad, that...that the guy who I liked so much, even looked up to, was a bad person, that he didn't do anything to save the kid, Drew."

"Yeah, well. Sometimes, in life, we don't get exactly what we want. Sometimes what we get is better, sometimes its worse. But then we accept it, we move on. Because, you lock yourself in a pit. And the only person who can get you out is well..you."

She continued.

"And what was even worse, is that he left, and I felt like it was my fault, for believing the idiots, for spreading the rumors, and I was..I was completely fueled by my jealousy. But then , afterwards, we found out everything that had happened to him recently. He hadn't told us his parents had died so gruesomely. He said that his dad had passed away a month ago, and his mom was on her death bed, that she died in peace. And then, we had no idea that he had started cutting. That, even through his grief, he had saved Drew, and that other guy. And everyone, was in so much grief, that when we had found out he died, we had a special shroud made, since we couldn't find his body. It had the symbol omega on it, and the shroud, it was green and blue, and black. Now, whenever we burn a shroud, we always have the omega symbol on it, in honor of Percy Jackson, the man who saved us twice, stopped a war, and was then betrayed. And well, it truly was the omega, the end, of someone great. Even the gods, they proclaimed he was the best hero ever."

" I know him. He's part of Chaos' army." I blurted out. She just nodded.

"It would be a shame if he wasn't."

By this time, tears were flowing freely down her face. I had never seen her like this. I stood up, and took her hand. She got up, a confused expression on her face. I led her behind the arena. She looked scared, but I couldn't blame her. I took her hand in one of mine, rubbing her palm softly.

"It'll be okay. That, is the one promise, I can make to you."

She looked at me gratefully, but didn't pull her hand away.

"You're just like him, you know?"

"I am him."

I pulled off my hood, revealing my face. Her eyes widened. She reached up with one hand, slowly touching my face. Her hand was cold, and where she touched, it felt like streaks of fire. Then she pulled away, both hands, and shut her eyes close.

"Percy..."

"It's me."

She nodded. She quickly wiped her tears away, and fixed her armor. Then she briskly walked away, calling out behind her.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Then she was gone.

I walked back to my cabin. I still needed to find Annabeth. As I entered, I saw her waiting for me, in those tight shorts, and a big grey shirt, that went down to her knees. Her golden hair was down one side, her hands on her hips. I walked up to her, and kissed her gently.

"What took you so long?"

"I met Clarisse. We talked; she was sad. I told her."

She nodded. She realized as well as I did, that eventually, I would have to tell them. And she trusted my judgement, as well as my love.

"Hey, Annabeth, I have to tell you something."

Her eyes widened. Probably not the best thing to start with, after I told her I had been with a girl for the past hour.

"My past, the secret I never told you. Well its time. There's a reason I never got too intimate with you, and well, I love you so much, fr respecting my privacy."

Her shoulders noticeably relaxed, but her eyes were still serious.

"Percy...you don't have to tell me. It's okay. Somethings...don't have to be said, simply understood."

I shook my head. "Not this, Annabeth. It's about camp, about what happened after you died. This is something I have to tell you."

I sat down on the bed, motioning for her to sit next to me. She came and sat, and I leaned against the wall. Then, I told her, my backstory, every gruesome, and horrible thing that had happened to me. She only listened, nodding her head. After, she hugged me. She didn't say anything, she didn't say sorry, she just hugged me, and it felt good, her warmth seeping into me, and a few tears escaped my eyes. I had never cried over what had happened, I had always been tough. The only reason I had ever had to cry was that I couldn't tell Annabeth.

"I can't believe that they would do that."

"Well, they did, and I never forgave them."

She looked into my eyes for a second, and I held her gaze. She got up, leaving my eye contact. Walking to the window, she crossed her arms.

"We need a way to defeat..who is it again?"

"The primordials. And Order. We're going to need much stronger troops. I think that there's only really one choice left."

"And that is?"

"The Armors."

She froze.

"Those are a myth."

"No, they're not. You of all people should know that. I'm the wielder of chaotic fire. I'm a myth. But of course, who better to guard a myth, then a myth itself?"

She turned around.

"You have them. That actually...makes sense. The prophecy about them said that when the universe needed saving, their guardian would reveal them. That he wasn't allowed to tell anyone."

"Exactly. We're going to need them, Annabeth. The problem is that, well, its not that easy. Its not on Chaos' planet. Its not even in this universe. To get it, you would have to get past the eternal wall. The source...of everything. And that's an impossible quest."

"Nothing's impossible, Percy, _you_ , of all people should know that. But still, a question."

"Shoot."

"How'd you get it to the other side?"

I grinned.

"I chucked it over."

The next morning, I woke up, sunlight streaming through the windows, as I stretched. My eyes widened, and I fell back onto my bed, screaming. Luckily, our cabin was soundproof, but that didn't mean Annabeth was deaf. She came over to me, to find me shivering, curled up.

"Percy! What happened?"

"A...a flashback. The...the day my parents...l-left, it started just like this, a-a..and it was kind of like a deja vu, except it wasn't, because it felt so real for a second, like I had been replaced with the old Percy, the one from that time, and, and Annabeth...the fear...the fear was overwhelming."

"Hey, hey Percy, it's okay now. It's fine."

"Yeah, yeah I know, it is. You're here."

I got up, walking to the restroom, splashing water on my face. I couldn't afford to look weak. Not now. I straightened up, and extended my arms. My armor came flying at me, locking the pieces onto my arms, and my sword hit my hand. I slid it into my sheath on my back, and my scythes came flying as well. When I was done with my armor, I walked out of the restroom, putting my cloak on. I quickly walked out of the cabin, standing in front of the camp. As soon as they saw me, they all gathered around, at the bottom of the hill.  
"You all face a threat greater than you have ever seen. Greater than Kronos, or the giants, or Gaea at her full power. No, you face many more primordials, even though that is not the greatest of your problems. Your problem isn't even Order.-"  
Annabeth's head snapped to look at me. I hadn't told anybody this, but I had figred it out. I had summoned the horsemen for a reason.  
"-the greatest threat is Apokolypse. He is not related to Order or Chaos, but, he is the father of the horsemen. He is stronger than Order, or Chaos, and the primordials, all put together. But, of course, there's a catch. That is only if he is able to wield the apokalyptic sword. To activate it, he will have to first harvest the souls of the four horsemen, and put them in it. This will grant him the power, but the soul of a fifth horsemen will lead them, uniting them into a single power. With such power, he could destroy planets with a thought, universes at a blast. Which is why, we must leave him to be dealt with by the horsemen. And me. Because...I am the fifth horseman."  
Everyone stared at me in shock. This was my second biggest secret. No one knew who the 5th horseman was, but now that I had told everyone, it would be much easier to target me.  
"Whatever happens, DO NOT engage with Apokolypse. He will destroy you with only a thought. Focus on defeating the primordials. Sofos will take on Order."  
Annabeth's head snapped toward me again, and I could sense her fear. The camp started quietly chattering.  
"Silence. You will all have to deal with the primordials. Remember how strong Gaea was? Well, now, about three of you will each have to defeat a primordial much stronger than Gaea. But I know, that this is a near impossible task, which is why you will have help. I will not tell you now what it is, but know that you will have it. But you still need to train, train your hardest. Because without training, the world that you know will still implode upon you. The apocalypse, it is never an explosion. It is an implosion, and it will happen eventually, over the span of a year. If, we don't stop this, everything will come crashing down upon you, your lives will slowly be torn apart, and you will die, not to go to an underworld, but The Hole, an eternal prison, where you will wander until the end of time."  
I looked down at the fearful faces in front of me. I had led many armies, but this, this was the real challenge. Beating Apokalypse. I flicked my wrist to one side, and they all dispersed, quickly going to the training areas. In a flash, the Gods appeared, nodding at me, and walked past, to train with their kids. Apparently they must have gotten the memo. I walked off, leaving Annabeth standing alone on the hill. I had some calls to make.

"Yeah...umm, Chaos, this problem is way bigger than you probably realized."  
"Indeed. I heard your little prattle to the campers."  
"Good. Then you must have heard that I promised them help. That's why I will need the full army of Chaos, and my league of assassins. I know that you do not approve of the legends, but without them, we will be nothing. I have trained them to be a hugely strong force, and I WILL need their help in the upcoming battle."  
Chaos nodded.  
"But I sense that my army is not the help that you spoke of."  
"No, I will need the armors. They are located outside the eternal wall. I shall need to go on a quest to retrieve them."  
"No. They need you there. I will go. Trust me."  
I nodded. Then I swiped through the message, leaving a black smoke. Chaos could handle this...easily, probably. I looked behind me, and stretched out my hand. A symbol glowed, my symbol, the infinity symbol, and the air shimmered. It solidified, which then slid apart. I walked into my room, and opened the door to my armory. I would need everything in here. But that's not what I came in here for. I slowly pushed of the ground, hovering in the air. I suddenly blasted up, a hole opening in the ceiling right before I hit it. I flew up for a few minutes, through a dark cylindrical tube-like space, until I stopped, swishing forward, and landing on a long corridor. I ran forward, at the speed of sound, as this corridor was huge, and the door would only be opened by a sonic boom. I skidded to a stop, as the door closed behind me. In front of me, was a huge space, in the center, a table. You couldn't see anything but the table. On each corner, there was torch, and the light only went for a few feet. I stood at one end, and shuffling ensued. The shadows shifted, and figures appeared out of the shadows. They all had on purple cloaks, but not a bright purple, a dark purple, which camouflaged in the low light. Each one had their own special weapon, as they walked forward, sitting down at the table. The Legendary Assassins.  
"The problem we face now is Apokalypse, and Order, and, and primordials. The primordials will be taken care of, and so will Order. But not alone. They will need your help. Especially Sofos. There will be five primordials, Nyx, Erebus, Uranous, Tartarus, and Pontus. Three demigods will have the help of the armors to defeat three of these primordials. There are six of you. Four will help defeat the remaining two primordials, and the other two will help Sofos. The Horsemen and I will take Apokolypse. We will also have Chaos' army at our disposal. They will battle Order's Legions, and the amazons and hunters will provide extra support. The Gods will help as well. We will have plenty of firepower, but Order will have ancient creatures born out of the dark. Creatures rumored to have gone extinct, creatures that feed off of life energy. For them, you will have to help...understand?"  
They all nodded. I turned around and put a hand up. The meeting was dismissed. As Luke, Silena, Bianca, Zoe, Ethan, and Beckendorf walked out, I snapped my fingers, teleporting back into my room. I walked out, into my cabin, where I heard a horn. An emergency. The camp was under attack.


	9. Chapter 9

I rushed outside, only to see an army gathered on the hill. I quickly spread my arms, and my armor came flying at me. I slid my sword into my sheath, pulling out my scythes. The campers had started to assemble at the bottom of the hill, all of them fixing their armor, their swords at awkward positions. I jumped off of the hill that our cabin was located on, in front of the small group of campers.  
"ATTACK!"  
I screamed, slicing up with one arm, beheading a monster. My legs started vibrating, and I crouched. My eyes closed, before they reopened, glowing a sparky purple. Lightning arced off of my body, as I released my tense muscles like a spring, jumping straight through the air. I whirled around in midair, deflecting an arrow headed towards my back, turning around, slicing and hacking heads, as I shot through the battle like a missile. I clipped my scythes to my side, as I grabbed the head of a monster, pushing him down, so that he was bent backward, and his neck broke, as I used his head as a fulcrum, to throw my legs onto the other side, pushing off another monsters head, back through air. I somersaulted before I hit the ground, skidding back a few feet, creating a mini trench. I finally rushed forward, running at the speed of sound, heads being flung everywhere, as my scythes cut through flesh. I ran straight forward, giving an uppercut to a man in white armor, as he flew through the air. I jumped up after him, and we wrestled in midair, I used the water in the air to support me, and he blasted fire at the ground, using the force to propel himself. He sliced at me with his dual sword, which I blocked over and over. Soon we were but just a blur, sparks clanging from where our swords met. Finally, he slashed up with one, the second following close behind. See, this is a powerful strike, because, it holds a huge amount of strength behind it, and both swords hit you. If you step back, your opponent can use the second sword with not as much momentum to stab. And since it's not straight up, it's harder to sidestep. I stepped back, narrowly dodging the first one, but when the stab came, I was ready. I sidestepped as much as I could, which was still hard, considering that I was floating. The sword missed my heart, going through my shoulder with a sickening sound. I slammed his wrist with one of my scythes, so that his sword left his hand, still impaled in my shoulder. Then I kicked him in the face, near his temple, so he lost his concentration, and fell through the air. I winced, drawing the sword out of my shoulder, dropping it straight down, so it followed his path. As he hit the ground, bouncing back up, his bones visibly shattering, the sword impaled him in the air, coming down with him. The campers slowly formed a circle, looking at him. The general of Order's legions. This was barely a scout group. He probably had a thousand of these. I looked down at my shoulder which was bleeding less. In case of these emergencies, the cloth in my shirt instantly became a skin graft of sorts, weaving itself with my skin, like artificial tissue. I groaned, letting the air currents whisk me away.

*****  
As I floated to the ground, I stumbled forwards, feeling the familiar ground under my feet. My knees buckled, and I collapsed. Annabeth quickly rushed to my side, kneeling over me.  
I could sense her indecisiveness.  
"Sorry, Percy"  
"It's fine. Do what you have to."  
With that, she quickly slammed her knife in front of my head, which created a blast just strong enough to push the campers back from the tight circle they had made around me. I got up, pulling my cloak off. My shirt stuck to my shoulder, as I winced at the movement. My armor all clanged onto the ground, and I heard gasps around me. Annabeth removed the shirt, and I heard more gasps. But this time, they came from the general direction of the aphrodite cabin. Except one. That last one came from Annabeth. Scars covered my torso, brands from torture, stabs, arrows, cuts...and across my left rib, there was one more.  
'Worthless'  
It was carved into my skin, the reason why Annabeth had never seen me shirtless. She ran he fingers deftly over it, her hood falling. I felt a tear fall onto my shoulder, and as the salty water burned my flesh, I grimaced. Her eyes widened, and she squeezed my shoulder, muttering some incantations. A white lite surrounded her fist and my shoulder, and I screamed. It felt as if she was pouring poison in it. Then, a green and black liquid oozed out. I doubled over, coughing up blood. In front of me, where the liquid touched the grass, it sizzled, and the grass died. Poison. As it oozed out of both sides of the wound, I screamed again. But this time it was one filled with pure, raw, physical pain. The acidic poison trickled down my back, and Annabeth's hand still squeezed my shoulder. Her eyes were glowing white by now, as white tendrils of pure energy, burned in the hole where I had been stabbed. Poison kept on being squeezed out, and I could smell something burning. Flesh. My flesh. Finally, I blinked, woozily. The people in front of me doubled, and slowly dissapeared. Then, everything went black.

*****  
"He's not dead, he just passed out from the pain"  
"That was enough poison to kill the human population a century from now. Which is, almost double today's human population."  
Voices spoke from the blackness. Then I felt a cold shiver going up my spine, and a feeling of floating away.  
"Nothing can happen without sacrifices, Perseus Jackson. Remember that, Apeiron. That general was only a distraction. The blades were the main event. Oh, but you've figured that out haven't you?"  
Unlike Kronos', his voice was deep, and held a certain wisdom almost. Not wisdom, but an ancient cunning. He knew when to stop killing, and he would only kill who he absolutely needed to. But he wouldn't bat an eyelid when it came to torture. Order.  
Suddenly I had the same feeling again, of being whisked away again.  
"Percy, you must recover. There is much more at stake now, then 50,000 years ago. You are more than Percy. You are the 5th horseman, the guardian of the eternity wall, heir to the universe, you are Apeiron. You are infinity, Percy. And if you don't come back now, you won't ever forgive yourself in The Hole."  
I recognized the voice as Chaos'. A strange desire burned inside me, and my eyes opened. I was back in my room. I opened the door, walking into the familiar halls. I exited the palace, and saw the milky way in the distance. Wings burst out of my back, and I leapt off of a ledge. I soared up into the sky, burning through the atmosphere. I felt something without hearing it. A sonic boom. I crashed through an asteroid, emerging unscathed. My eyes widened. The return. The prophecy for this particular legend held that the guardian would almost die, but then return, stronger than ever. Because your failures make you stronger. My vision tinted purple, and I knew my eyes glowed. I flapped my wings, bursting forward, and my muscles tensed. I screamed, as I felt a ripping pain throughout, my body bulging. Claws ripped out of my knuckles, and my pants ripped, as my calves exploded, holes everywhere in my pants. I had become at least double my original size, and I felt something in my chest. My heart, it split, both pieces, relocating to either sides. I had two hearts now. In the very center, a small, sharp, tip of metal came out, spreading in a circle, with a hole the size of a tennis ball in the center. The whole circle was as big as a soccer ball. Then my forehead ripped open, revealing an emerging stone. It shot a beam, destroying a passing planet. My neck was sliced open as well, now, three slits on each side. Gills. I flew through galaxies, until I saw, the Earth. I closed my eyes, as I hurtled through the Earth's atmosphere. The ground started closing in, and I saw camp. I crashed through the borders, through the roof of the big house, drifting straight through. I saw my body, as I phased through it.

*****  
I startled awake. I looked down at my arms, my body. I was back in my physical body. My old one. I had a feeling that I had just received...a new mode? A new form? However you wanted to put it, I knew that I could only call upon it in times of extreme stress. Suddenly my vision went blurry. I looked around me, noticing for the first time, that there was a crowd around me. I heard whispers.  
"Percy?"  
"He's alive..."  
I got up, and jumped out of the bed. I squeezed my eyes shut, before I pushed through the crowd, rushing outside. I quickly flashed to my cabin, where I saw Annabeth.  
"Percy!"  
"Hey, Annabeth. I'm fine. But listen, we have no time. That was the first of many, many attacks. Suit up."  
I quickly pulled out my circle from my drawer, sticking it on my chest. It was my emergency armor. Then my second suit of armor came flying at me, and it wrapped around me. I walked outside, to see that it was darkening. I briskly walked over to the Hades cabin, mentally telling Annabeth to go ahead to the campfire. The second I walked in, I saw Nico. He was lying on his bed.  
"Nico." I whispered.  
"What do you want?"  
I sighed.  
"I'm sorry. For...whatever I did."  
He turned to me.  
"What you did, Percy, is leave me! I used to love you. And then you left me, all alone...all...alone..."  
Tears started rolling down his eyes. I took of the circle on my chest, walking over to him.  
"I need your help, Nico. To defeat Apokolypse. You are...one of the most powerful demigods I have ever seen. When I left, my powers over water weakened. I can still control it, just like I can any element, but its not my domain. My main sphere of control is chaotic fire. And you? Yours is the underworld. The dead. The underworld isn't what your true power is though. It is death, Nico. The underworld, in the universe, its just another place. But death is throughout. You represent death. The fourth horseman...he is the embodiment. And I will need your help. Because you will have control over the armies of Erebus, and Erebus will be one of our opponents. Order has corrupted them all. The five primordials that we will face, Nico. So, I ask you, please, help me in this. Not for me, but for your sister. For your mother. To uphold the legacy of Death. Please, Nico."  
He eyed me warily. Then he squeezed his eyes shut, and let out a shaky breath.  
"Fine. I'll do it."  
I smiled, handing him the circle. He placed it on his chest, and winced.  
"Don't worry. That was only a light prick, and a few volts. Its analyzing your blood, like a fingerprint, and releasing a special bio-micro tech into your bloodstream. The shock, that was the armor sending electron signals to your brain, implanting some of the bio-micro tech as well, so that you can control the armor psychologically, and with simple motor signals."  
He raised his eyebrows.  
"It scanned your DNA, and put little robots in you so you can control it with your mind, and physical actions."  
He made an O shape with his mouth. Suddenly, the armor expanded, covering his body. He walked around, testing some abilities.  
"You good?"  
He nodded, his armor folding back in. I walked out. I had a few more people to meet.

I walked into the cabin I had made for Barry.  
"Hey, Barr?"  
I called out.  
"Hey."  
He walked out of the bathroom, and I noticed he looked much better. He had gained some weight, in muscle, that too. I nodded approvingly.  
"I'm gonna need your help, to defeat Apokolypse."  
He nodded.  
"You are a son of poseidon, giving you water control. This is another major force in our army. When I left camp, and the greek world, my powers weakened. I can still control water, but just as any other element. It isn't in my blood anymore. But it is in yours. And we will need that strength, when taking on Pontus. Are you ready?"  
He nodded, and I handed him a little black rectangle.  
"Touch it with your full thumb, and dont remove your thumb."  
He did so, and there was a quick pricking noise, as a drop of blood was pooled onto the device. But he kept his finger on it.  
"Okay you can take it off now. He took it off, and the screen turned green, then red, then black again.  
"Get used to that prick. Thats going to be what the armor uses to identify you as, well, you. Go ahead and face it down, and push it onto your forearm."  
He did just that, and spasmed for a second.  
"Feisty, isn't it? It put a homing device in you, along with a motion sensor. The little shock was to numb the pain. When you clench your fist, your glove will fly onto your hand. You just have to tap the button on the wrist of your glove, which will summon the rest."  
He nodded, and clenched his fist. A hand flew through the wall, in the form of a fist. It surrounded his hand, and he flexed his fingers, grinning.  
"I like it."  
I just smiled at him, walking out the door. As I did, I heard another crash. Oh well, he would learn through practice how to summon his armor more accurately.

I walked to the cabin me and Annabeth shared, near half-blood hill. I went behind, and tapped in some IGC's into my armor's keypad. Winds raced around me, once again tearing me apart, atom by atom, reforming me in a different place. I was in Chaos' palace. I pushed open the doors to his throne room, where the primordial council sat. Erebus, Nyx, Tartarus, Pontus, and Uranous were all clutching their heads, passed out. The rest, who were still fine, were silent. I saw among them, Aether, Eros, Gaea, and so many others. Then, to one side, was Aphrodite. She looked kind of like Hestia, compared to the primordials, and Chaos. I nodded at her, and she nodded back, grimly. This was her warring side, almost. Love was cruel, and unpredictable. Aphrodite was the oldest god, and alive long before she had a physical embodiment. Even the titans loved and lusted, as did some earlier primordials. She sat there, in a black and pink armor, and a spear, with purple fumes coming off of it.  
"Lord Chaos, I need the armors."  
He nodded, and waved his hand. Aether disentegrated into the wind, and Eros folded into himself, like an imploding star, disappearing as well. Soon, they came behind me, holding a box each, with one floating in the air in front of them. The boxes were about the size of their hands, and each emitted a bright light. They let their boxes go, and they floated up in front of them.  
I opened them, pulling out an amulet from each. They all had a crystal inset in them. One was a bright violet, one was a bright green, like poison, and the last was a light blue that glowed brightly. I sighed inside. So many enemies, so many different kind of weapons. I quickly put the amulets back in the boxes, bowing to Chaos. Winds raced around me, as once again, I was torn into pieces.

I stumbled forward, noticing that it is still the evening. The thing with the armors only barely took a few minutes, so the campfire probably barely started. I stashed the boxes away into my cloak, hurrying over to the campfire.

I walked along the edges, in the shadows, watching the campers sing. They all sung half-heartedly, while some didn't even sing. The color of the fire was a dark purple. As the song ended, I made my way down to the fire. Everyone got quiet. I took a deep breath. Annabeth wished me good luck. I pulled off my hood.  
"My name is Percy Jackson. Some of you know me, while some of you may not. For 50,000 years, I was a part of Chaos' army. Before that, I led this very camp through two wars. Some of you were there. I was betrayed after that, and led to me leaving. I never truly died. I was recruited into the army of Chaos, and now I have returned to my first home. I know...that I don't have... the trust of all of you."  
I looked pointedly at Drew.  
"But you did trust me before, and I saved Olympus. Now, I need you to do it again. Because its not just Olympus at stake now, its so much more."  
I looked around me. Some people were crying, while some were sitting there with a poker face.  
"I also promised you help. And I have it. There will be 5 primordials; Nyx, Erebus, Uranous, Tartarus, and Pontus. To defeat them, I have summoned my league of assassins, and revealed the armors. There are three. Three of you will get them. But you will have to be worthy, and strong. A mere mortal will not be able to control its full power."  
I pulled the boxes out, and they floated into the air.  
"Pigaínete . Epiléxte oikodespótes sas!"  
The boxes burnt away, and the amulets were exposed. They almost hesitated for a moment, before one shot through the air, landing in the lap of Leo Valdez. It was the green one. He quickly flashed away, a confused look on his face. The light blue one slowly floated through the air, and Artemis caught it as it hovered in front of her face. She was flashed away, with the same startled expression on her face. There was one amulet left. A smoke came out of it, a purple smoke, all of the color leaking out of it. It formed a humanoid shape, and the crystal from the amulet set itself in its heart.  
"I...come...to serve"  
It sounded confused. It was translating from a language so old, that no one alive knew it, and only five knew it back then. I knew it, but that was because I was one of the five. And I didn't count as part of the total...alive population. It has to do with rebirth, and solular immortality and stuff, all very complicated and political, I won't get into it. But imagine, deciphering a language dating to be the first language, and translating it into a modern language. Must be tough, huh? It solidified, and weapons formed on it. Apparently, no one was worthy enough to hold the amulet, so it made someone who was. Or, well, it just made itself a humanoid. I smiled at the campers, and me and the amulet flashed away.

We appeared, next to Artemis and Leo.  
"Both of you will have to combat a primordial. Artemis, you will take Pontus, and Leo you will take Uranous. Nico and Barry will help you two. Fylakto-"  
I motioned to the purple amulet,  
"-will take out a third primordial. My League of Assassins will take out the remaining two. Are we clear?"  
They nodded, still a bit shocked. I sighed, flashing us back. We quickly went down different paths, as I went back, to the camp's barrier, to keep watch.

I could hear the commotion behind me, and for now, decided to pay it no attention. Instead I went and sat under Thalia's tree. My sword was by my side, and I brought my knees closer to me. Time passed. I concentrated, and I could feel it passing. It was like wading through water, except much heavier. The current was against you, so you could go forward, but it was nearly impossible to go back. Slowly the lights of the camp flickered out, and I was consumed by the darkness. It was a new moon today, and the absence of the moon left an eery silence, accompanied by a pitch darkness. I sat for a few more hours, never dozing off, always alert. Then, I heard a familiar trotting of hooves. It stopped a few feet behind me, and I heard a sound vaguely familiar to a man getting off of his steed.

"Come, Death. I welcome you. Sit."  
I scooted over, and the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse sat beside me, leaning against the tree.  
"Apeiron, hello."  
"You know my name, Death. You can call me that."  
"And you know mine. But you still call me Death"  
I nodded.  
"This will be a hard fight."  
"Indeed. I can already feel it, you know. The deaths to come."  
"Yes, so can I."  
"And, Apeiron, War has foreseen a gruesome battle, a war, that will be the end of many of your loved ones."  
"I know, Death. I've lived with that a long time now. I've always known about this war. It's just that, my memories had been oppressed before. Now, they are not."  
"Ah, yes, rebirth. A very complicated subject, don't you think? And very supernatural, at that."  
"Death, you're supernatural."  
He chuckled.  
"The horseman of life. It suits, that you have had a thousand lives before."  
I nodded.  
"My days with them are limited. Soon, the world will change."  
"Yes. And you will be the do-er. The one to destroy this universe."  
A tear rolled down my eye.  
"I wasn't supposed to develop a relationship with them, Death. I was supposed to be their savior. And I always will be. Chaos doesn't know yet. About who I really am."  
I could literally feel Death's poker face.  
"That you're so much more powerful than him? I did doubt it."  
He chuckled again, and I smiled weakly.  
"You are so, very powerful, Apeiron. Your name means infinity. You are older than Chaos. You are entirely cosmic."  
"I know. I remember things sometimes. When I was at my full power. When I created everything. I didn't really have a physical form. I was just, kind of, everything. My first creation was creation itself."  
Death nodded.  
"As I said before, you are quite powerful, Life. The Olympians may call themselves gods, but are true God. It is those, who know so much, that suffer the most."  
"You called me Life, instead of Apeiron."  
"Yes, I did. After all, that is who the fifth horsemen is."  
I stood up, picking up my sword. I slid it into the sheath on my back, as Death rose, next to me. We watched the sun rise, for a few seconds, before I put my hood up. Death locked his scythes onto his belt, and green fire suddenly rose next him, in an inferno. It formed the figure of his horse, which he jumped on, giving me one last look.  
"I will see you when battling Apokolypse."  
With that, he galloped off, the fire of his horse, rising, engulfing them, until they had both disappeared. I sighed, walking down the hill. The next battle would be soon.


	10. Chapter 10

I walked through the camp, as I assessed everything I would have to destroy. I growled, thinking of my predicament. I flashed to the forest, in a flurry of purple light, as I did, when I got overwhelmed by emotions. I unclipped my scythes, and flicked them, extending them fully. I swiped up, and a wave of dark purple energy rocketed through the forest, giving me a clear path ahead. Another figure appeared next to me. Death. He unclipped his scythes in a similar fashion, facing me towards him.  
"Duel me."  
I growled, barely stopping myself from going into my beast form.  
"Sure thing."  
He swung first, faster than I could think about it, slamming the upper curved edge of his scythe against my cheek. I stumbled back, and felt blood dribbling down my face, and off my chin. His orange eyes looked at me, with a certain humor in them. I could sense his sarcastic smirk under that bone mask. I tossed my scythes to him.  
"Here. You can have them back."  
I outstretched my arm, and my hand disappeared into a shadow hole in the air. I pulled out my sword, swinging at him. It was a magnificent, sword, lit with Chaotic fire. It was large, almost two-handed, but I handled it with a single hand with ease. There were skulls imbedded in the center, that made up the most part, faces showing despair. Its outer edged was lined with chaotic metal, a worn out silver, that contrasted with the darker inside. It's name was The Reaper of Souls. I touched its tip to the ground, dragging it with me, as I advanced. Death slashed out with his scythe, but it was quickly deflected off of my force field, that I brought up last second. He jumped away, drifting through the dust a few feet. I grinned, and extended my hand bringing it up in front of me. White tendrils came out the ground, forming little men, made of energy. Death put his hands out as well, throwing them up, and coffins erupted, forming small purple ghouls similar to mine. I growled, and our little armies collided, and as they were weakened, they imploded with a gravity, bringing a hole in the ground with their death. A crater separated Death and I, and he chuckled.  
"Don't forget, Apeiron, all things die. Even Life."  
He spoke dryly, his gravelly voice ringing through the clearing.  
"Yes, but life is reborn! And when it is-"  
I jumped the crater, bringing my sword up, and cleaving down.  
"It. Is. Stronger!"  
A shockwave went straight down the path I had cleaved down, and Death flipped to one side, throwing his scythes at me. They attached at the ends, and spun, smacking me away, as they spun back to Death, like a boomerang. I hacked diagonally barely slicing his chest. I was brute force, and he was agility.  
"Your emotions consume you, Apeiron."  
"They are what fuel my strength."  
"Indeed. That is why you must become void of them."  
I screamed, spinning, and hacking straight down, sending a seismic wave through the ground, that threw Death off his feet. A charged at him, and as he fell down, I uppercutted, turning my blade right before impact, so I smacked him with the flat, instead of chopping him in halve. He fell gracefully on his feet, and chuckled.  
"Apeiron, you are easily the most powerful person in the universe. You could destroy me. But only with your power. I am the most skilled person in the universe when it comes to hand to hand combat. So now, you need to calm down. You're not thinking right, and at this rate you will be the destruction of everything you are trying to preserve."  
I looked at him with fury in my eyes. Then, my knees buckled, and I fell into a kneel, with a grunt. I focused on my breathing, and energy started to come off of me, and I realized fully what I could have just done.  
"Thank you, Death."  
He simply nodded, straightening, and clipping his scythes to his belt. His eyes glowed under his mask, and I could almost see grief in them.  
"Death? Are you alright?"  
"Yes, yes, I am...fine."  
"Your past haunts you. As does mine."  
He nodded again, and the light in his eyes dimmed.  
"Death. I am a powerful warrior, as are you. But everyone has their, problems, their griefs. To some, the grievances of others may seem minuscule, but the only reason they are there to even seem minuscule, is because of how great they are. Somethings are hard to talk about, and I hold a world record for bottling up problems, so I realize how hippocratic this next part will sound."  
I could almost see the grin under that skull face of his, but I took a deep breath and spoke.  
"Wanna talk about it?"

We sat on the edge of the beach, and the water slowly lapped at our feet.  
"In some worlds I am titled by another name. Not Death, or the fourth horseman or such. But instead, Kinslayer. Because I killed my own. The horsemen are a different thing completely, Apeiron. We come neither from the Dregs of Tartarus, or The Palaces of Olympus. We are not Monsters or Gods, Angels or Demons, we are something in the middle. We are the perfect combination of the two. Yet Humanity existed before we did. Even though We would be much more suitable for having the third kingdom as home, the Humans came first. We had no place in this universe. And so, my kind conquered worlds and planets, looking for a home. But, over time, we became accustomed to conquest, and we made our mission with good intentions, to a mission with no intentions, other than the sport of acquiring power."  
My face remained taut, and I slowly nodded leaving no emotion to leak out and show on my face.  
"You four...you belong to the race known as the Amalgam."  
A humorless chuckle escaped him- " Yes, named rightly so, as we were a combination of Good and Evil. A wretched Amalgam."  
"But, I will continue. Me and my brothers, we tired of the bloodshed, and we decided to stop it. I wasn't much of a warrior back then you must know. We hadn't even been named yet. Our names are forgotten to all but me, and I shall never say them out loud again. I was a bit of a crafter back then, and so I came upon an idea. I would make four weapons for the four of us, using materials from the worlds previously conquered. And so, I used the corpses, and harvested the souls of all who we had killed to make weapons from flesh and bone, using the precious metals available on the realms, and letting ancient powers course through every single one of our weapons, so we could defeat The Amalgam. And we did. But after we had finished, our weapons threatened to destroy the universe. The power was too much to hold in simple trinkets be they made from our conquests. And so, we were approached by a force so ancient, that it knew no concept of time, or space, or the laws of physics."  
He looked at me pointedly, and the corners of my mouth tilted up.  
"What?"  
He chuckled again, resuming his story.  
" We were offered the option that we would take upon ourselves the power from the weapons, and live in hiding, in a realm beyond the walls of this one, anchored by a single entrance. And when we were properly summoned, we would help to stop the end of the universe. This might seem a tough decision you might think. Immortality and power, for a life of being locked away. But we had seen enough blood for two of these lifetimes. And so we accepted. Until we were falsely summoned. But then, we were free! And so, we trained, and trained, and became more powerful then ever. We had been able to train before, but your friend Annabeth understood it perfectly. The real monsters are in the real world. And then, we met you. And so on."  
"Indeed."  
I got up, and so did he.  
"It seems that the past is determined to stalk us."  
He laughed his humorless chuckle again.  
" I will see you around again, Apeiron."  
"Of course you will."  
We walked away from the beach, until we parted ways. I walked into my cabin, only to see Annabeth slumped against a wall, one of her sleeves rolled up, to reveal a thin slit, a thin white line. A single drop of blood ran down to her wrist. Around the slit, there was a greenish tint, and Annabeth's hood was pulled low, so I couldn't see her face. But even then, that wasn't what worried me the most. Something was off. I frowned until I realized what it was.

I couldn't feel her presence. She was always kind of there, a lingering entity, in my mind. I could feel her movements, her heartbeat, her life force.  
And what scared me the most, was that there was none.


	11. Chapter 11

I quickly clamped her arm at the elbow, trying to stop the flow of blood. If my guess was correct, then someone had poisoned her. I tapped my left wrist, sending an electromagnetic signal to Nico and Barry. In the next few minutes they were by my side. I could here them talking, but I wasn't paying attention. Nico ran off, probably to get Chiron. I wiped the drop of blood on her arm off gingerly, and placed it on my left wrist. It spread, and I quickly cut myself with a splinter right above. My blood rolled down to mix with hers, and it churned into a singular drop. Slowly a tiny bit of green...stuff, was extracted, and it fell to the floor. Mine and Annabeth's blood was similar, but mine rejected most kinds of toxins. The green liquid hissed on the floor, sizzling through to Chaos knows where. So definitely a kind of poison. I sensed Chiron kneeling next to me. I took Annaneth's hand. There was no pulse. I closed my eyes, thinking. I had to stop the poison from spreading. And everything after that became a blur. I waved away Chiron, telling him and Nico to go outside. The second they were out of the door, I pulled Annabeth's shirt off. Her arm had slowly gained a green tint. It was going to her shoulder. I whipped out a sword, and without hesitation, or maybe I did hesitate, I don't know, I sliced her arm off with a single blow. I quickly put a soulular barrier around the cabin, so her soul couldn't escape. Although, it might have already. I was hoping it hadn't yet. Her shoulder looked clean, and I leaned back sighing. But only for a second. I had to stop the blood flow. I quickly whipped off my shirt, and wrapped it around. I looked back to the door. It was closed. Good. I kissed Annabeth, and retrieved her shirt. I slid it over her bare chest and stomach, simply grateful the poison hadn't gotten past her shoulder. I beckoned for Chiron and Nico to come back, along with Barry. A few of Apollo's children followed. I let out a shaky breath, finally allowing myself to be bothered by this event. I was pushed aside by the Apollo children as they started to bandage her arm. I felt horrible I had to do that but I had realized quickly enough how harmful the poison was. Someone had poisoned Annabeth. _My_ Annabeth. And I was going to find them, and give them torture the likes of which they had never seen. I leaned against the wall, and tears cascaded down my cheeks, onto the floor. My rage and grief combined, forming a flurry of emotions inside of me. Annabeth had always been there for me. I loved her so much. And I realized, all of this sounded so typical, but it really was the truth. Her presence always being there, it comforted me in battle. She gave me the confidence I needed. Back when I was only 14 years old, she was always the one with the plan, the brave one. I was almost nothing without her. Or, at least, _Percy_ was nothing without her. If she died now, even I wouldn't be able to bring her back. Her soul would drift away, into eternity. It wouldn't go to the underworld, it was to pure for that. Instead, it would be taken to a place that was for only the purest of souls. A place I would never see. Because, I was flawed. And she was so very perfect. I had never let her truly kill a being in all our centuries. Allow peace to a monster or creature by loosening its soul from its body, sending the monster to tartarus, that was one thing. But I, I sent them to The Hole. Never to return. Not once, had I let her do that. And so she had remained spotless, while I carried the burden of a thousand gallons of blood spilled upon me. Because she deserved it. Why? I had no explicit proof. But she was a good person. She was simply one of so many. And I realize, how unfair this is. But, it took something that only she had, to keep me in line all those years, to not let me go insane, from all the violence. But that wasn't the point. The point was that I wouldn't be able to recapture her soul. Because, that place? It was the heart of the source. I was the soul, my place was next to the heart, I wasn't allowed in. So, I hoped the soulular barrier had captured her soul. I got up, and held my hand up. The Apollo campers finished up, and retreated. Everyone was in silence, shocked by what had just happened. I held out my hand, chanting an ancient mantra. Nico seemed to recognize it, I saw his eyes widen from the corner of my eye. After a minute of silent murmuring, the air in front of me started to shimmer. Smoke formed, and the air suddenly became gloomy. A soul personified. Annabeth's soul. I pointed at her body, and the soul bowed it's head. It swept into the body, and with a jolt, Annabeth came alive. Her eyes were in a frenzy, and the first thing she did was punch me in the face. I took a step back, putting my arms up. She looked confused for about another second, but slowly memories started to come back to her. Then her face got frightened. It was too much. 200 years of experience and memories all flooding her newly remade mind. It could kill her. I rushed to her side, as she hopelessly spasmed for a second. I laid her on the floor, closing her eyes. Before she passed out, I touched her forehead with a spell of healing. I didn't know whether she would remember later what I said now. I never did find out whether she remembered, this was the only time I ever told her. I had already foreseen her new destiny from the second she was revived. But this time, no tears came to my eyes. Only an unbearable grief. One that clenched my heart, that brought a chill to my spine, that almost killed me when I saw it. Looking back, I don't know why I couldn't do anything else. Maybe I had realized my place int he world. Or maybe I didn't want to do anything, for her, so she could be unburdened. I don't know. I regret it, though. I regret that I'm the only one that remembered. So, I leaned down, and whispered in her ear.  
"I'm sorry Annabeth. I couldn't catch hold of your complete soul. Your time is limited with us. And then, you will become a part of The Source. So, I'm so very sorry"  
I got up, my eyes burning. I turned around, facing the campers.  
"They will pay. Order, and Apokalypse, and everyone else. They will all pay."  
I growled at them, before picking Annabeth up, and heading to the infirmary.

I spent the rest of my day training like never before. I beat Death in a hand to hand combat match, and after that, I went to my room in Chaos' palace. After a few minutes of going through my weapon inventory, I walked to Chaos' throne room, where he sat.  
"Something troubles you Percy. Forgive me, I have been preoccupied lately. You may speak to me, though"  
I raised my sword, pointing it towards him. He nodded, and stood. And all I remember after that is that we dueled. And I beat him for my first time. I went on a few missions for him after that. They were all finished within 2 hours. I did anything and everything I could, that day, to get my mind off of Annabeth. But it was no use, it never worked.

The next week I spent holed up in my cabin. I was working on a project for Annabeth. An arm. Leo helped me, and for the next week we spent our time cursing, cutting through wires, and going on special mission to get the materials we needed. Well, most of the time, I left, and he stayed. I went to the far edges of the universe, and to the sub-atomic realm. I connected wires, leo hammered metal, I imbued power into the weapon. He cooled metal, I tested it out. But it kept malfunctioning, and sparking. One time, it completely blew up. One day, on our break, we finally made a breakthrough. It was lunchtime, and we both picked up our sandwich and sat at our little bench, across from each other.

"This is impossible."

"I know" I sighed

"But...maybe we're just trying the wrong approach."

"Yeah, we could be."

"Maybe we should try a different kind of exterior shielding. The atomic hyper-contriver must be interfering with the permanent metal. If this is the most intact metal in the universe, then there's no way a device made to rearrange atoms would work on it."

I looked at him.

"That makes sense. But there has to be more to it. Our first prototype used reinforced steel, and it still exploded."

He nodded.

"Yeah...well...there are other theoretical ways we can do this. I had an idea a year ago, that we might be able to apply to this situation"

"yeah? Well, shoot."

"You sure you wanna know? Don't call me crazy."

"Yeah, dude, seriously. Shoot."

"Okay, well, we don't have to use a metallic exterior. We could make it almost organically metallic. Imagine if we could connect the wires to the limbic and nervous system, just make them an extension."

"Yeah, obviously. We're kind of going to do that already right? But that's not all the human body is. It's also muscle, and bones, and proteins. Thus the metallic exterior. "

"I know. Now, we would have to route these wires through some kind of shielding. Right now, we're just designing a huge mess of wires and metals. Why not make it more simple, with some kind of 'bones'? Simple move those, to move the whole arm. These should comprise of a strong, yet easy to use metal, so that-"

"I can take care of that."

"- they don't change at all! But not just that. The exterior. Why even use a hyper-contriver? If we could make the exterior so that it could be summoned, to be an extension of the mind, then we don't need one!"

"Leo...what you're suggesting, is...it's pointless! Why do you even need bones and such then?"

"Because, what I'm suggesting is an extension of the mind, controlled by the brain. No concentration required to summon it, and release it. Simply summon it, and it will appear. Will it to change shape, and it will. It will be controlled effortlessly, by the limbic system. Why summon this exterior of energy out of thin air? Why not instead just mentally turn on a switch that will summon energy, and can rearrange itself to make a different shape!"

"Leo...that, that might actually work"

He grinned, satisfied.

"Then let's get to it!"

The rest of the week was impossible. First, we had to craft the wires from the most resistant metal in the universe. It was next to impossible to cut through it. Next, we had to route them through a shielding. We used Chaotic metal, since it was more susceptible to mental manipulation. We used chaotic metal screws, and joints. Wires stuck out of the end that was meant to be attached. That end was wider, and looked like one of those suction things. It was wide enough to cover her stump. The wires would automatically pierce through her skin, and connect to her veins and such, so she would be in control. We had one part left. The actual muscle and arm. We finally got little devices orbiting around one end, like satellites around a tower. When turned on, they would form a white and gold contour of an arm. They could be mentally rearranged in order to change the shape of the arm into a weapon, or well, anything. Once the contour had been set, the energy would solidify into entropy metal, since this metal was unstable enough on an atomic level that it could basically go straight from a solid to a plasma state of matter. Also, Annabeth was already acquainted with entropy metal. It was finally finished. Mine and Leo's greatest masterpiece ever.

The next day, I polished our invention, and wrapped it in a box ready to take to Annabeth. She had finally woken and I was overjoyed. When she first saw me, her expression morphed into one of sadness, and she looked away. The next second, she became extremely happy to seem to see me. We hugged, kissed. And finally, everything went back to normal. Her arm had been healed, it was only a stump now.  
"Hey, you feeling alright now?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine"

"I got you a gift."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah."

I took it out, giving it to her, she unwrapped, and I helped, since she only had a single arm. When she saw it, her eyes lit up. I helped her attach it to her arm, and she winced.

"Oh, yeah, it might sting a little by the way."

She grinned, and flexed her arm, curling her bony, shiny fingers.

" _Now_ you tell me."

I chuckled

"Try it out. You have to mentally summon yourself an arm. Will the little devices to turn on, and they will, creating an exoskeleton of an arm."

She concentrated for a second, and her arm flashed bright, dimming, until it was just metal, with intricate designs carved into it. Her smile was wider than ever and she kissed me.

"You can manipulate it to be anything you want. The devices will rearrange in order to make a different shape. Oh, and sorry about cutting it off in the first place.

"It's fine Seaweed brain. You saved my life. Did you make this alone?"

"Leo helped. Alot."

She nodded wisely.

"Obviously. I was wondering since when you knew that humans had bones."

"Hey!"

"I love you Percy. Thank you for everything so far. Remember me, alright?"

I didn't question what she said, because maybe she had heard me and remembered me before. All I could say was-

"I love you too, Annabeth. And I'm going to make sure that no one forgets you, until there isn't a living soul."

And that I would make sure.


	12. Chapter 12

There was light. Everywhere. Everything was white, with no grounds or ceilings or walls. The blinding light stretched on forever, with no intention of stopping. In the middle it was concentrated, brighter, stronger, the source of the light. And next to it, in the palm of an outstretched tendril of light, there was a spark. A spark of darkness. Suddenly it burned, becoming a flame, spreading throughout, trying to conquer the everlasting light. But it could not invade the small ball of light, with tendrils seeping off of it. It grew, then, into a humanoid shape, radiating power, absolute sentience. It had no distinctive features, it had two arms, two legs, a head, and a neck, and hands, and feet. The darkness was then lit by sparkling dots, strewn throughout. The light of The Source dimmed. And then came color. The dots of light broke, and colors ensued. They formed great globes, and huge rocks, and burning stars. The light of The Source dimmed further. Then everything swirled around, and motion was born. And then, an explosion. An explosion, to strew these clumps and dots so tightly bunched around The Source. His light dimmed even more. And finally, the materials were laid out. Through the most frantic parts, an entity emerged. One, modeled after the original source. And there, where there was stillness, another emerged. Chaos and Order. Yet the light could only reach so far. At the end of that, walls were made. And beyond that, The Hole was brought into creation. An empty void, where there were no means of surviving, where souls went to die. Inside these walls, a place that could birth life was born. Then, matter was attracted toward itself. It selectively grouped together, forming the realms. These groups were sectioned off by simply the darkness of The Hole. They were joined to the others by one single entrance, all of them interconnected, with only a single path there. Thus, the entirety of the Universe was made. Consisting of realms, those realms consisting of their own miniature universes. Those universes harboring solar systems, and stars, and asteroids. And now, the light of the Source grew dimmer than ever. From The Hole, the concept of Destruction was formed, made into a living entity. The Hole itself became sentient, and it formed itself an embodiment, one known as The Executioner. It was more powerful than everything but The Source. But the darkness still spread. At the ever-growing edges of The Hole, there was light to be seen. The darkness tried to conquer it but it would never be done. Eternity was born. One of The Seven Sentient Beings, the most powerful beings in the universe. And so, Chaos and Order and Destruction and The Executioner and Eternity were formed. But there were still two remaining. Apokalypse and Creation. The Source created one entity, to destroy the realms, imbued with the most evil parts of The Source, and another imbued with its great power to rebuild them. By now, The Source had almost faded. And so, it left, away to The Light, outside of The Hole. And there, it stayed to regain its strength. But the whole time it monitored the works of its greatest creation. And then, it realized it flaw. Apokalypse was unstoppable. He would destroy Creation, and so, they needed a savior. So, The Source put all the power he had left, to do one thing. To be reborn. Be reborn, stripped of its complete powers, to save the world. It would be born as a normal person, gaining its powers and previous memories over the course of its life. And so, a fraction of The Source departed. The Soul. The body remained, still gathering its strength. And the Soul would go to be reborn over and over again. The Soul would never have its full powers, The Source locked those away, never to be used again. So, The all-mighty Source became a simple human being. And when the time would come, The Source would lend its powers to The Soul, to destroy everything, and rebuild. So, it became dormant, the last bit of it, without any memories or powers, in a desperate gamble to stop Apokalypse.


End file.
